ASIATIC JOURNEY. 



353 



Novgorod on the Volga, and descended to Kasan and 

 the Tartar ruins of Bolgari. From thence he went 

 by Perm to Jekatherinenburg on the Asiatic side of 

 the Uralian Mountains, — a vast chain composed ol 

 several ranges running nearly parallel to each other, 

 of which the highest summits scarcely attain an ele- 

 vation of 4593 or 4920 feet, but which, like the 

 Andes, follows the direction of a meridian, from the 

 tertiary deposites in the neighbourhood of Lake 

 Aral to the greenstone rocks in the vicinity of the 

 Frozen Sea. A month was occupied in visiting the 

 central and northern parts of these mountains, 

 which abound in alluvial beds, containing gold and 

 platina, the malachite mines of Goumeschevskoi, the 

 great magnetic ridge of Blagodad, and the celebrated 

 deposites at Mourzinsk, in which topaz and beryl are 

 found. Near Nijnei-Tagilsk, a country which may 

 be compared to Choco in South America, a mass of 

 platina weighing about 21 \ pounds troy has been 

 found. 



From Jekatherinenburg the travellers proceeded 

 by Tioumen to Tobolsk on the Irtisch, and from 

 thence by Tara, a steppe or desert of Baraba, which 

 is dreaded on account of the torments caused by 

 the multitudes of insects belonging to the family 

 of Tipulce, to Barnaoul on the banks of the Ob ; the 

 picturesque lake of Kolyvan; and the rich silver- 

 mines of Schlangenberg, Riddersk, and Zyrianovski, 

 situated on the south-western declivity of the Altaic 

 range, the highest summit of which is scarcely so 

 elevated as the Peak of Teneriffe. The mines of 

 Kolyvan produce annually upwards of 49,842 troy 

 pounds. 



Proceeding southward from Riddersk to Oust-Ka- 

 menogosk, they passed through Boukhtarminsk to 

 the frontier of Chinese Zungaria. They even ob« 

 tained permission to cross the frontier, in order to 

 visit the Mongol post of Bates, or Khonimailakhou, 

 northward of the Lake Dzaisang. Returning from 

 Gg2 



