in small groups and lines on the banks and islands of
the rivers. Near Lake Zaisan are arborescent shrubs
with almost white leaves, resembling Eleagnus hortensis,
and roses, and in the salt soil abundance of Tschingin,
a long-stalked plant, the favourite food of the camel.
Bulbous plants, especially of the Iris tribe, are very
common.
In the same neighbourhood wild animals abound,
including the Tiger, Leopard, Lynx, Cat, Bear, Wolf,
Fox, Corsac Fox, Wolverine, Badger, Beaver, Marten,
Squirrel, Siberian Weasel, Mole, and Ermine.
The domestic animals are : low set, but extremely
hardy Horses, two-humped Camels, fairly large horned
cattle with short horns, goats, and sheep. The last
are both white and black, and of that peculiar genus
known as the fat-tailed sheep. The weight of the
animal varies from 140 to 180 lbs., the cushion of fat
weighing about a fourth of the whole.- This pad of fat
disappears by cross-breeding with Russian sheep.
The nose is arched, the ears pendent, and the fleece,
that is less used for weaving than making thread, is
coarse, and the wool hairy. The horns of the rams
are spiral.
The chief races inhabiting the province are Tatars,
on the right bank of the Irtish, north of Semipolatinsk;
Kirghese on the left bank, and to the south-west of
that river, and along the banks of the water-courses;
and between Semipolatinsk and the Altai, Russians ;
the average number of persons of both sexes in 1879
being 2§ to the square mile.
tains are here and there pine woods, principally on the almost inaccessible
granite rocks. 4. Sparse larch woods occur at the sources of the
rivers Djemeni, Kenderlik, Chidone, and Chogan-Obo, also on the Saur
mountains, and at the Zaisan station. 5. In Baianaul stanitsa, and 6,
a t Karkarali, are small pine woods growing on the granite rocks.
The towns of the four uyezds,* into which the province
is divided, and that give their names to their
respective districts, are, with one exception, on the
banks of the Irtish or its affluents. Pavlodar I have
already alluded to. The others are Semipolatinsk, the
capital, 597 feet above the sea le v e l; Karkaralinsk,
in the south-west, at an altitude of 2,698 feet ; and
Ust-Kamenogorsk, at an altitude of 711 feet, in the
south-east. Besides these should be mentioned in
the mountains, the town of Kokpeti, 1,927 feet high,
Zaisan Post, at an altitude of 2,200 feet, and Bukh-
tarma, alluded to by Atkinson as a somewhat imposing
town, and where one of the early Russian forts was
built, but which seems now to have declined in importance.
Thus far I have dwelt upon the natural features
of the Semipolatinsk province. I have now to treat
of its economy.
* The four uyezds and one sub-district are said to be peopled as
M ow s, but the totals, in every case but one, are wrongly calculated:—
D i s t r i c t s o f
Semipolatinsk
Pavlodar .
Ust- Kamenogo
Karkaralinsk
Zaisan station
T o w n s o f
Semipolatinsk
Pavlodar
Ust-Kamenogo
Karkarali .
Zaisan P o s t .
Kokpeti
Kirghese. Cossacks. Peasants. Soldiers. Total.
115.938 6,030
6,228
2>739 — 125,069
105,707 ■ ' « .. — 112,360
64.055 ¡¡§ 1 232 70,349
123,571 — --- — I23 >5 7 1
71,683 707 *-- .— 72,417
Bourgesses.
4.735" 6,939 I,l84 2,932 17,817
967 ■: — 616 356 2,263
2.439 — 607 — 1,348 5.428
' —T . 896 397 ■ — 178. 2,027
159 — 7°3 150 2,427 3,766
821 — 1,867 ■ Mg.;, 330 3,247