curves around Lake Baikal* Similarly in the month of
March the isotherms crossing Turkistan begin to drop
on approaching the Caspian, and this feature is more
marked as summer approaches, though by June the
lines across Russian Central Asia are tolerably even.
Speaking generally, observes M. Reclus, the Aralo-
Caspian slope lies between the isothermal lines of 68
and 770 in the month of July, which is the temperature
of the Cape Verde Isles, situated 1,700 miles further
south, whilst for the month of January the isothermal
lines for the Aral region are those of 23 and 5 , the
same as'pass, over Canada, southern Greenland, and
the isles of Spitzbergen. The difference between the
temperature of the hottest and coldest days is sti
more striking, for whereas in 1881 at Perovsk the
thermometer fell to -17-86, it rose at Samarkand to
104-18, a difference from the former of 122*04 .
The chief characteristic of the climate of Turkistan
is its peculiar dryness. Rain in the summer, except
in the mountain districts, is an exceedingly rare
phenomenon, as the reader will surmise when
observe that during the six months I was away from
London I did not unfold my waterproof coat, and
* Thus the line of 32°, beginning about midway between the north and
south of the island of Sakhalin, runs westward along the 50th parallel
of latitude as far as the longitude of Nertchinsk ; then rises slightly as
fa r as Verchne Udinsk, where, instead of crossing the Baikal m a
straight line, it dips to nearly the southern extremity of the lake and,
having crossed it, rises with a bound along the western shore to the
58th parallel, whence, continuing westward through Tomsk it crosses
the Irtish, midway between Tara and Omsk, on its way to Tobolsk. All
places on this line, therefore, have an average yearly temperature of
22° The line 50° has not the same irregularity; for beginning at
Peking- it travels west in an even line unaffected by Lake Balkhash,
or the Aral and Caspian Seas, and deviates northwards when it has
reached the north of the Caspian, only to the extent o f about 4
of latitude. The chart for December shows the deviations first alluded
from the end of August to the 4th of December I
saw no rain. In 1858, according to M. Rdclus, the
total duration of rainfall in the Kara-Kum desert for
the whole year lasted only four hours. The humidity
brought by the south-west winds is deposited upon
the Thian Shan and Pamir mountains, but in smaller
proportion than is the case with the mountains of
Europe or of India. According to M. Severtsoff’s
observations, in the Thian Shan, north of the 42nd
parallel, at heights of more than 5,000 feet, rain falls
daily between four and seven in the afternoons of
May and June, and also in less quantities in the
night and early morning. A t heights of 8,000 feet,
throughout the summer, rain and snow succeed each
other, but the latter quickly melts ; as it does also
from 1,000 to 1,500 feet higher, where in summer
there is constant snow but no rain.
The summer heats of Russian Turkistan are intolerable,
and ascend to n o ° in the shade, and 1350 or
1450 in the sun, The hot period south of Tashkend
lasts for five months, and for about three in the district
further north.
A noteworthy result of the want of humidity in the
to, greatly exaggerated, and, near the Baikal, reversed; the lines now
going round the north end of the lake. In the chart for March, the
line of 14° makes a capricious curve from Yeneseisk through Tomsk,
to nearly as far southf a ? Akmolinsk, and then, within 5° of longitude,
ascends io° of latitude, running north to Barentz Island, thus giving the
same degree of temperature in March to Akmolinsk, that is on the
parallel of London, and to an island 15° from the North Pole. Once
more, the month of July presents great irregularities, the line of 68°
commencing in the Sea of Japan as far south as the 38th parallel, and
then springing on the same meridian of longitude no less than 24° of
latitude to Yakutsk, gives to this coldest town upon earth the same
temperature as to the coast of Korea, after which the line descends
to the south o f the Baikal, and proceeds evenly westwards. The
isotherms across Asiatic Russia from August to November are even
and regular.