414 VOLCANO IN CENTRAL ASIA. 
violent storms which incommode the caravans. For 
this reason some sheep are sacrificed to this old 
voleano by those who pass it.” 
This account, which was obtained from a Tartar 
who travelled at the commencement of the present 
century, excited a lively interest in our author, more 
especially as it brought to mind the burning vol- 
canoes of the interior of Asia, made known through 
the researches of Abel Remusat and Klaproth in 
Chinese books, and whose great distance from the 
sea has excited so much surprise. Soon after his 
departure from Petersburg he received from M. de 
Klosterman, imperial director of police at Semipo- 
latinsk, the following particulars, which were ob- 
tained from Bucharians and Tachkendis :— 
“The route from Semipolatinsk to Kouldja is 
twenty-five days. It passes by the mountains Ala- 
chan and Rondegatay, in the steppe of the Middle 
Horde of the Kirghiz, the borders of the Lake Sa- 
vande-koul, the Tarbagatai Mountains in Zungaria, 
and the river Emyl. When it has been traversed, 
the road unites with that which leads from Tchou- 
geutchak to the province of Ele. From the banks 
of the Emyl to the Lake Ala-koul the distance is 
393 miles. The Tartars estimate the distance of this 
lake from Semipolatinsk at 301 miles. It is to the 
right of the road, and extends from east to west 
664 miles. In the midst of this lake rises a very 
high mountain, named Aral-toube. From this to 
the Chinese post, situated between the little Lake 
Janalache-koul and the river Baratara, on the banks 
of which reside Kalmucks, are reckoned 36 miles.” 
It is evident that the same mountain is alluded 
to in both these accounts ; and with the view of con- 
necting it with the volcanoes discovered by Klaproth 
