180 FORESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA, 



■with the Tsar. The robber was promoted to the rank of 

 a hero, and was appointed to command an expedition for 

 the conquest of Siberia. Yermak first crossed the Ural in 

 1580, and in 1660 nearly all the Siberian tribes were 

 subjugated by Kussia.' 



In regard to the mountain range, he says: 'I had 

 formed great conceptions of this mountain chain, but the 

 illusion was dispelled when, on inquiring for the Urals, I 

 was pointed to dusky, wooded, undulating hills, in appear- 

 ance not more imposing than the Lammermoor range in 

 Scotland. I know not why thy are so darkly shaded on 

 most of our maps, and made to look like a formidable 

 barrier between the two continents. They certainly cover 

 a broad expanse of country, but in elevation they are really 

 insignificant, and rendered still more so in appearance by 

 their very gradual rise from the level country. The eleva- 

 tion in the latitude of Ekaterinebuig is little more than 

 2000 feet above the sea; and the plain on the Siberian 

 side being between 800 and 1000 feet in elevation, the 

 gentle slope of the mountains makes them look diminutive.' 



Of the conquest of the country, Dr Lansdell tells : — 

 ' It can hardly be said that Siberia was familiar to the 

 Russians before the middle of the sixteenth century; 

 for, although at an earlier period an expedition had 

 penetrated as far as the Lower Obi, yet its effects 

 were not permanent. Later, Ivan Vassilievitch II. 

 sent a number of troops over the Urals, laid some of the 

 Tartar tribes under tribute, and in 1558 assumed the title 

 of " Lord of Siberia." Kutchum Khan, however, a lineal 

 descendant of Genghis Khan, punished these tribes for 

 their defection, and regained their fealty, and so ended 

 again for a while the result of the Russian expedition. A 

 third invasion, however, was made in a way quite unex- 

 pected. Ivan Vassilievitch II. had extended his conquests 

 to the Caspian Sea, and opened commercial relations with 

 Persia; but the merchants and caravans were frequently 

 pillaged by hordes of banditti, called Don Cossacks, whom 

 the Tsar attacked, killing some, and taking prisoner or 



