892 



ASIATIC RUSSIA. 



the eastern hemisphere, also rises in the Altaian chain, in the Chinese empire, passes through Lake 

 Baikal, and, taking a northerly direction, flows into the Arctic Ocean ; it is about 2,700 miles 

 in length. The Lena also rises in the same mountains, and empties its-elf into the same sea, 

 after receiving numerous large tributaries, during a course of upwards of 2,000 miles. The 

 Kolyma, the Jlnadyr, and the Kamschatka are also large rivers. The Kur, which receives 

 the Araxes, flows into the Caspian Sea. The Ural, which also flows ir/o the Caspian Sea, rises 

 on the eastern declivity of the mountains of the same name, and has a course of about 1 ,500 

 miles. Of the lakes the principal is Lake. Baikal, which is the largest in Asia, being upwards 

 of 400 miles long and from 15 to 50 broad ; it is of great depth, but contains numerous shoals. 



4. Steppes. The whole of the northern part of the country, from the Ural to the ocean is 

 a vast steppe, or level desert, interspersed with extensive marshy tracts, and some productive 

 districts. Similar levels are found in the southwestern part., but of inferior extent. 



5. Minerals. Gold, silver, platina, diamonds, and other precious stones, with iron, lead, 

 and copper are found in the Ural and Altai Momitains. Salt is found in abundance in th^ 

 steppes. 



6. Climate and Vegetation. The northern portion of Siberia experiences extremely rigor- 

 ous winters and short summers, and the earth is perpetually frozen below the vegetable mould 

 that overlies the surface. The cold is here so intense, that 72'-' below zero of Fahrenheit is not 

 very unusual, and it has been known as low as 120° ; birds and animals, as well as man, perish 

 beneath this dreadful temperature, their very blood being frozen in iheir veins. The great 

 rivers of these dreary plains are not, like the streams of happier regions, destined to fertilize 

 the fields through which they flow, and convey their rich produce to bordering kingdoms. But 

 these " solid floods " roll their sluggish mass through frozen tracts and end in a sea bound in 

 chains of perpetual ice. 



In a country like this the vegetable species are few, and their forms are of the most stunted 

 description ; whole districts are covered with coarse rushes, dwarf birches (Betula nana) and 

 willows, and arctic brambles. But as we proceed south to somewhat milder regions, the coun- 

 try is clothed with forests of birches {Betula alba), larches, and pines, among which are the 

 Cembra pine (P. Cembra), reaching the height of 120 feet ; the Siberian fir (P. Sibirica), 

 and the spruce (P. abies). To these succeed maples, balsams, aspens, and poplars, but beech- 

 es, oaks, limds, ash, and other hardwood trees, are wanting. Great numbers of gentians, es- 

 pecially Gentiana algida, with its blue and white blossoms, large patches of the yellow Rhodo- 

 dendron chrysanthemum and the purple R. dauricum, with quantities of other pretty flowers, 

 fill the meadows and open country. Lilies are abundant, and in Kamschatka their bulbs are 

 used for food ; rhubarbs are also found. The cereal grains are cultivated only in the southern 

 parts of Sl'oena ; wheat is raised with difficulty in any portion, but oats, rye, barley, and 

 buckwheat, supply its place. 



The government of Caucasia, and in general the southwestern parts of this extensive region, 

 are exceedingly fertile, more from nature than industry. The parts that are cultivated produce 

 excellent fruit of almost all the kinds known in Europe, especially grapes, which are reckoned 

 the largest and finest in the world. The summers are very dry, and, from the end of July to 

 the beginning of October, the air is corrupted, and the soil sometimes ruined, by immense 

 quantities of locusts. 



7. Animals. The animal kingdom is distinguished by the same paucity of species as the 

 vegetable world. Yet, even in the bleak regions of the polar shores, that beneficent Providence 

 which presides over nature, has furnished means of support and protection against the climate 

 to various animals. That severity of cold, which would otherwise be fatal to animal life, is 

 guarded against in some measure by a thick coat of fat and unctuous substances ; in others by 

 skins and furs, much richer, softer, and more beautiful than those which clothe the tenants of 

 milder regions. The substances, which communicate to these classes of animals the power of 

 resisting the fiercest colds of the north, become, with a little preparation, eminently useful and 

 ornamental to man ; the midnight gloom is enlivened, and the pomp of kings derives one its 

 most splendid decorations from commodities furnished by the shivering hunter of the polar de- 

 sert. The reindeer, elk, polar bear, wolf, fox, marmot, the martin, ermine, and other ani- 

 mals common to Europe or North America, have already been mentioned under those heads. 

 Various species of leming, mice, and hamsters, are more confined to Siberia. The economic 

 mouse [Arvicola ceconomis) deserves a particular notice. This little creature forms burrows 



