460 
Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 
Along the roads there were numbers of birds like magpies, water- 
wagtails, and woodpeckers, but tbese were perbaps not so desirable 
as the sparrows. After 36 hours of continuous travelling, I reacbed 
Turnen, the distance being 306^- versts. 
At Turnen there are some engineering worlcs, wbicb belong to Mr. 
Wardroper, an Englisb resident, wbo bas made many of the steamers 
of light draught which are now so numerous on some of the Siberian 
rivers. The evening aftef my arrival I joined a small steamer 
which was to take us down the shallower portions of the Eiver 
Toufa to a larger steamer lying further down. Upon the right band, 
or Southern side of the river, there is a bank frorn 50 to 80 feet in 
height, which is chiefly composed of white sand. The opposite 
shore is however low. As we descended the river, these appearances 
were reversed, and the high bank was upon the left-hand side. The 
Toufa is a shallow sandy river, witli a very winding course. Lines 
of willows, which clothed the furrowed banks on either side, shut 
out our view of the surrounding country. 
Our progress was both slow and difficult, but.this was partly 
owing to our steamer having to tow behind it a large and unwieldy 
bärge, in which there were nearly 1000 convicts. Now and then 
we obtained a glimpse througli the barrier of willow on either side, 
and saw a background of fall black firs and the flickering leaves of 
clumps of aspen. On this river, although we were many hundreds, 
and I might almost say thousands of miles from the sea, there are 
many sea-gulls ( Larus canus ?) to be seen. The backs of these were 
grey and the ends of their wings black. 
Early on the morning of the 2Gth September we left the Toufa 
river and joined the Tobol. The water was still of the same dirty 
sandy hue, and about 120 yards in breadth. Our course was still 
very winding, and we repeatedly described curves like the letter S. 
It is said that sturgeon and sterlet are seldom seen in the rivers 
where we were, although common a little farther east. The ex- 
planation of this was that the rivers were too shallow. Dui'ing 
the first day all that I saw which was indicative of habitations 
were two green domes capping the tower-like spires of a church. 
Now and then we passed a few ragged Tartars who had pushed 
their way through the tall fringe of willow to see the passing 
steamer. Their skins were very dark, and their eyes were small 
and sharp. From some small “ dugout ” boats and nets, which were 
generally to be seen near them, I think their occupation was that of 
fishermen. The banks of the river often sliowed a horizontal strati- 
fication. Intercalated with the sandy beds which formed these 
banks, I sometimes saw a bed of peaty matter, in some cases prob- 
ably marking an old land-surface which had been buried by the 
deposits from a river or a lake. 
About 3 p.m. we reacbed Evelewa, where we joined a large steamer. 
This was of course a sign that we had reacbed somewhat deeper 
water. 
Next morning we sighted Tobolslc. The town is pleasantly 
situated partly on the top and partly beneath the face of a tall ridgc 
