Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/55

36 very abundant, and we collected a good number of these reptiles. Of fish we only caught four kinds; Dyptichus, Schizothorax, perch, and gudgeon. According to the Cossacks, who are great fishermen, there are no others in the Ili.

As the elevation of the country rises beyond the Tsanma, the valley of the Kunges changes its character, and becomes narrower and more fertile. Instead of the clumps of vegetation we had hitherto seen, excellent and varied herbage clothed the undulating plain, growing higher and thicker every ten versts or so as we advanced; the outline of the marginal hills became sterner, and spruce firs began to show themselves, their lower belt marking the limit of the summer rains.

Rain, however, does fall, although perhaps less abundantly, in the steppe zone, where the elevation is 4000 feet, or even somewhat less. At this point larch woods begin growing on the banks of the Kunges itself, interspersed with tall poplars (some 80ft. high, with stems 3ft. and 5ft. thick) and apple-trees; birch and apricot are more rare. The thick underwood is composed of hawthorn, cherry, woodbine, guelder rose, and briar. The islands in the river are thickly overgrown with tall salix or willow, round whose stems the wild