C H A P T E R X.
FROM SEMIPOLA T 1N SK TO SERGIOPOL.
“ Semipolatinsk ” : its etymology, situation, and meteorology.— Call on
Governor.— Visits to prison and asylum.— Schools.— Post Office
statistic s.^Trade .— Our start delayed.— Departure, roads, and
posting service.— Sunday at Sergiopol.SDistribution of books from
the capital and onwards.— Antiquities and remarkable sku llsgS
Mineral deposits.— A previous English traveller.— Lake A la -K u l:
its aspect, ornithology, lizards, and fish.— The Central Asian
“ Kulan.”
TH E town of Semipolatinsk (pronounced Semi-
palatinsk), at which I arrived on the 24th August,
derives its name from “ Sempalati ”— seven palaces or
buildings, the ruins of which were seen in 1734 by
Gmelin, who called the place “ Sempalatnaya-Krepost,”
or fortress. These buildings had served as temples
for the Kalmuks, and one of them still contained two
idols of bears, and on the walls of another were partially
discerned representations of men, whilst not far distant
in the valley of Abla'ikit were found the ruins of another
temple of Buddhist origin. The present Russian town
stands on the lofty right bank of the Irtish, 11 miles
from the original site, now called “ Old Semipolatinsk,”
my last post-station, and whence one or more migrations
had been found necessary by reason of the eating away
of the river’s bank, and the encroachments of the sand-
dunes. It has a public garden with 14 fountains. On
the left bank stands the rare spectacle of a Kirghese
town, where these settled children of the desert dwell in
houses of wood, with curtained windows. Surrounded
by a desert of sand, Semipolatinsk has all the disadvantages
of a continental climate, with few corresponding
advantages. The Russians established here a meteorological
station, where, as in other stations in Central
Asia, observations were recorded thrice daily— at seven,
one, and nine.*
It was not my intention to stay longer in Semipolatinsk
than was necessary, and I accordingly sallied
forth betimes in the morning on the typical Russian
droshky to pay my respects to the Governor, General
Protzenko. His Excellency had already heard of me,
and was prepared to help me in every way possible,
regretting only that his household was all but broken
up, because he was on the point of departure to a distant
portion of his province. He gave me permission to
visit the prison, where we found an Afghan prisoner;
* From observations taken from October, 1854, to January, i860, the
average yearly temperature was found to be + the average
of winter b e in g— 7°’S 6 ; spring, + 34°’ i i ; ^summer, +24°-84; and
autumn, + 37°-o8. From the published statistics for 1877, it appears
that the greatest heat in Semipolatinsk was +99°'32, and the greatest
cold -57°"82, the mean temperature for the year being + 35°-24, or i4°’7
less than at Greenwich. The rainfall for the Arctic Ocean river systems
generally is computed to average 7*87 inches annually, but the rainfall
on the Irtish at Semipolatinsk was only S'58 inches as compared with 27^28
inches in 1877 at Greenwich. The number of days for the whole year
1877 with rain was 89; with snow, 48 ; hail, 1 ; thunderstorms, 13 ;
whilst some indication of the aspect of the sky may be gathered from
the registration of 76 days clear, 91 overcast, and 16 stormy. The
prevailing quarter whence the wind came was east, for which there
were recorded 141 observations, and 116 from the south. Least wind
came from the north-east and north-west, each furnishing 32 registrations,
whilst 467 observations were recorded as calm, or without wind. The
barometer rose in December, 1877, as high as 30’89 inches, and fell to
the minimum of the year in July to 28'69, the mean for the year being
29^49, or C24 less than at Greenwich.