A t the next station, Báskanskiy, there were trees
before the post-house, and, further on, herbage
appeared with camels feeding, after which snow
mountains loomed in the distance, and we crossed in
a small ferry-boat the Ak-Su, a smaller and narrower
river than the Lepsa, but quite as rapid. A t the
Ak-Su station horses were again given us, but it
must not be supposed that all this came as a matter
of course, for we overtook at least three officers in
these picket-stations, against whom we should have
had no chance in securing horses, but for the kind
patronage of the Governor-General. T o expedite
matters still more, and finding that an estaphet, or
mounted messenger, could be sent on ahead for such
a trifle as a halfpenny a mile, I began the practice
further on of sending off immediately on my arrival
a boy to the next station to announce my coming,
so that if the horses were turned out on the steppe,
they might be brought to the stable ready to be
harnessed at a moment’s notice. A t the Ak-Su station
it poured with rain— a fact I mention only to take of
those refreshing drops farewell— a long farewell, for
days and weeks and months, since, if I remember
rightly, we saw no more like them for upwards of
three months—-that is, till we reached the Caucasus in
December.
A t Abakumovskiy, the next station, we were near
the mountains. From this place a post-road goes off
at the foot of, and parallel to, the Ala-Tau range, a
distance of 65 miles, past three stations to Lepsinsk.
The first station is Sarkandskiy, to which I have
already referred as peopled chiefly by baptized Taran-
chis ; and the fourth, Lepsinskaia, Mr. Morgan 'says,
lies under the shadow of the principal range of the
Ala-Tau, in an amphitheatre of mountains bearing
the local name of “ Djeilau,” or summer pasture
grounds. Although at an elevation of 3>5° ° feeb
its climate is temperate and healthy at all seasons, the
rainfall supplies every need of the agriculturist, and
even timber is not wanting in the higher mountains,
while Alpine scenery, lakes and waterfalls, not to mention
a rich and diversified flora, lend additional charms
to the neighbourhood. Lepsinsk is one of the
districts in which the colonists prosecute the keeping
of bees, though to a less extent than in the uyezds
north and south.*
The Sungarian, “ Cis-lli,” or “ Northern” Ala-Tau,
so called in contradistinction to the “ Southern or
“ Trans-Ili” Ala-Tau, terminates that vast depression
stretching to the south of the Tarbagatai, in the
midst of which are situated the lakes I have been
describing.f
* I have no recent statistics, but, according to the latest to hand,
there were in Sarkan 9 beekeepers, and throughout the Kopal uyezd
2 9 . In the Sergiopol uyezd there were 103, and in the V iem y uyezd
188; making for the whole of Semirechia 320 beekeepers, who,
during the 15 years from 1836-1871, collected 71 tons of honey, and 10
tons of wax, of which amount 47 tons of honey and 7* tons of wax
were sold. .
t The main range of the system corresponds nearly with the 45m
parallel of latitude, and here are snow-clad peaks for a distance of
more than 130 miles, with but a very limited number of passes.
Mr. Morgan calls this A la-Tau the first step in the series of ascents
to the highlands of Central A sia , approached from the north, and
describes its appearance in the distance as like a massive rampart with
snowy parapet extending to the west as far as the eye can reach. But
on closer acquaintance it is found to consist of several nearly parallel
chains, considerably lower than the main range, though adding much
to its width. The average height of the range reaches 6,000 feet, but
isolated peaks attain to 12,000 and more. The limit of perpetual snow
was computed by Schrenk to be 10,700 feet. The outer hills, composed
largely of Jurassic formations, are cut by the rivers Lepsa, Baskan,
Sarkan, and Ak-Su, which issue from deep and almost impassable