Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/23

 SIBERIA 15 ernmost point in 1742 in a sledge. The east- ernmost point of Siberia is Cape East at the end of the Tchuktchi peninsula, which juts into Behring strait, opposite Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, the westernmost point of the American continent. On the S. side of this peninsula is the bay of Anadyr, an inlet of Behring sea. The coast follows thence a gen- eral southwesterly direction to the end of the peninsula of Kamtchatka, W. of which lies the Okhotsk sea, separated from the Pacific by the chain of the Kurile islands stretching from Kamtchatka to Yezo. Of the islands of Behring sea, only Behring and Copper isl- ands and those lying dose to the coast belong to Kussia. The surface of Siberia is in its general form a vast diluvial plain, slightly undulating, and sloping gradually from the Altai mountains on the south to the Arctic ocean. In the W. part are the steppes of Ishim and Baraba, broad tracts of lowland in which grassy prairies alternate with reed marshes, fresh lakes with salt, and tracts of rich arable land with extensive forests. Parts of this region present in summer fine park scenery, in which beautiful wooded hills rise from grassy plains covered with flowers. Here the birches often attain a diameter of 4 ft. and a height of 150 ft., and the pines much great- er dimensions. S. and E. of the steppes the spurs of the Altai mountains jut into the plain like the headlands of a seacoast. Many of the great rivers rise here, the upper part of their courses being through dense forests. In east- ern Siberia the plain is more broken by hills, and has but little land fit for agriculture. In the S. part of Irkutsk and in Yakutsk the hills and mountains are covered for most of the year with good pasture, and in favorable places all the grains of temperate climates are grown. The greater part of the country is covered with open forests, in which there is tolerable pastur- age at certain seasons. Between the Kolyma river and Behring sea the country is traversed by several mountain ranges having a general elevation of 2,000 to 3,000 ft. above the sea. The entire N. coast of Siberia is a dreary region of salt steppes and frozen swamps, called the tundra, where the soil is perpetually frozen to the depth of hundreds of feet. The surface is never thawed before the end of June, and is again ice-bound by the middle of September, and deep snow covers the ground nine or ten months in the year. The banks of the rivers are lined with vast numbers of uprooted trees brought down by floods, which eventually find their way into the Arctic ocean, to be drifted away by the current flowing from E. to W. along the Siberian coast. The principal moun- tain range of Siberia is that which forms in the west its S. boundary with China, and which is called by various names in different parts. Its E. extremity is at East cape in Behring strait, whence it extends in a general S. W. direction, forming the boundary between the Littoral, the Amoor, and Yakutsk provinces, until it reaches 742 VOL. xv. 2 the Chinese frontier, when its course is first S., then W., and then N. "W. to the boundary be- tween Irkutsk and Yeniseisk, from which it again runs S. W. to the borders of Turkistan. In the east and along the shores of the sea of Okhotsk this range is called the Stanovoi mountains, W. of the Amoor province the Ya- blonnoi, further W. the Daurian and Sayanian mountains, and finally the Altai mountains in the narrower sense. The general height of the chain (the Altai in its widest sense) is about 3,000 ft., but the highest summits of the Altai proper reach an elevation of upward of 10,000 ft., and the Yablonnoi mountains are little more than an undulating plateau. There are many spurs from the main range, as well as several smaller ranges in the interior. (See ALTAI, AMOOR COUNTRY, and KAMTCHATKA.) With the exception of the Amoor and a few streams of less importance, the rivers of Sibe- ria all flow into the Arctic ocean. The Obi ranks among the largest rivers in the world, and many of its tributaries are of great size ; the most important of these are the Irtish, Ishim, Tobol, and Tom. The Yenisei is by some authorities said to drain a greater ex- tent of surface and to have a longer course than the Obi ; its chief affluents are the Lower Tunguska, Stony Tunguska, and Upper Tun- guska or Angara. The Lena is nearly as large, and the principal streams which join it are the Yiliui, Vitim, Olekma, and Aldan. The other rivers of most importance which flow into the Arctic ocean are the Nadym, Pur, Taz, Piasina, Khatanga, Anabara, Olem, Ole- nek, Yana, Indigirka, Alazeya, Kolyma, and Tchaun. The chief rivers flowing into the seas which bound Siberia S. E. are the Amoor or Saghalien, which forms part of the south- ern boundary and receives several considerable tributaries from the north ; the Anadyr, flow- ing into the gulf of the same name ; and the Okhota, which has its mouth on the W. shore of the sea of Okhotsk. Few of these rivers present any obstacles to navigation except ice. Frozen inundations are frequent. As the rivers flow from warm to cold latitudes, their lower and middle courses freeze while their head waters are still open. Near their mouths they freeze to the bottom, while above for hundreds of miles only the surface is frozen. The waters accumulating under the ice finally burst from confinement and flood the valleys with many thicknesses of ice. At the close of winter these accumulations are sometimes 20 ft. in depth. There are many lakes, but they are all small, with the exception of Baikal, between the Transbaikal province and the government of Irkutsk. (See BAIKAL.) The geology of Siberia is but little known, except- ing in a few parts. Granite and crystalline schists are found in the Ural mountains, and also in the Altai and its E. continuations, be- tween Ion. 85 and 120 and as far N. as lat. 57, and again in the E. extremity of the country between Ion. 1 65 and Behring strait. Volcanic I