
1865.] Notes on Central Asia. 123 
of Chinese and other Asiatic travellers, commencing from the Buddhist 
Missionaries Fa-Hyan and Huyan-Tsan of the 4th and 7th centuries, 
to the brief itineraries of the Semipalatinsk Tartar traders of the 
present century. Numerous questions, replete with interest to the 
science of geography, could only be possibly solved by actual investi- 
gation on the spot. The configuration of the country, the direction 
of the upheaval of the mountain chain, its mean height, the altitude 
of its mountain passes, the height of the snow-line, the distribution 
of animal and vegetable organisms, the existence of Alpine glaciers or 
of volcanic action,—points all requiring either investigation, or 
confirmation. So far back as 1851 and 1852, during my stay at Berlin, 
IT acquainted Humboldt and Ritter of my intention of proceeding into 
the interior of Asia as far as the Tian-Shan range. They both 
encouraged me in my difficult enterprise, but did not conceal their 
doubts as to the possibility of penetrating so far into the interior of 
the Asiatic Continent. The result of my deliberations with these 
leaders of science, strengthened me in my determination of attempting 
to reach the eternal snow-line of the Tian-Shan at all hazards. Hum- 
boldt attached so much importance to the investigation, even a cursory 
one, of this range, that I could not look at the undertaking but in the 
light of a holy mission, marked out for me by the Nestor of European 
savans. 
By the end of the summer of 1856 under the auspices, and with 
_ the co-operation of the Russian Geographical Society, I was already in 
Vernoé. Unfortunately, however, I arrived two months after the visit 
of a Russian detachment to lake Issyk-Kul. 
With a small escort of twelve cossacks, I succeeded, on the 9; 
September, in reaching the eastern extremity of the lake, and had an 
opportunity of surveying from point Kuké-Kul-usun, the imposing 
range of the Tian-Shan, from the Djirgalau to the opposite extremity 
of the lake. To visit the chain itself was that moment impossible. 
My escort being so small, I was obliged to proceed very carefully, and 
passed the night among inaccessible defiles, anticipating every moment 
to be attacked by hostile bands of Kara-Kirghizes. 
_ Returning to Vernoé, and procuring a larger escort (40 cossacks) I 
proceeded through the wild Buam defile, at the upper course of the 
Chi, and emerged on the base of the Celestial range, near the Western 
