ance), which is distinguished from the species from
Persia called Kulan (Equus Onager) by the absence of
the black cross-stripe on the shoulders. The “ Kiang”
(Equus Kiang) from Upper Tibet would appear to be
nearly related, although larger. The Kulan is said to
be untamable, but Dr. Finsch had the opportunity at
Omsk of describing and sketching two specimens that
had been received from the Bekpak-Dala Steppe when
quite young, and had then been suckled by a young
mare. Both the wild animals became so accustomed
to this new phase of existence, that they grazed with
her and other horses, and although the one was two
years old and the other as much as three years, they
still had recourse to the paps of their foster mother.*
Having thus described the Ala-Kul district and its
fauna, of which latter so little information is within
reach of English students, and having brought my
readers to the frontiers of the Semirechia province at
Sergiopol, I shall now proceed to describe generally
this “ land of seven streams ”
* The prevailing colour of these animals was a pretty yellowish
brown, but the nostrils, lower jaw, throat, belly, legs, and spots on
front of the thighs were white. The ears were also internally white,
with black-edged points, and these were better formed than those of the
ass, but longer than those of a horse. The black, bushy, erect mane
reached from the back part of the head to the withers, and on either
side of it was a stripe of white running down the back and dwindling
away at the tail, which terminates in a tuft of stiff hairs reaching to the
point of the hough. In winter the animal bears a long and almost shaggy
pelt, while its measurement may be taken as follows: From tip of
nose to end of tail, Loft. ; height of shoulder, 3 ft. 10in . ; of crupper,
3 ft. 1 i j in. ; length from nostril to point edge of ear, 1 ft. 8J in. ; of ear
itself, 7 f in . ; ’ from the tip of the nose to the back of head, 2 f t . ; length
of neck from back of head to top of shoulder, 21^in. ; of the back,
from middle of the shoulder to root of tail, 3 ft. in. ; of the tail root,
i § j in .; of the entire tail, 2 ft. 7Jin. ; the longest hair in the tuft,
16 in. ; longest hair of mane, s f in . ; height of the hoof in front 2f- in.,
and behind, in.
C H A P T E R XI.
THE L A N E OF S E V E N STR E AM S .
Semirechia: its boundaries, dimensions, and orography.— Thian Shan
mountains : their etymology, exploration, extent, form, ranges, and
geology.— Height of snow-line, glaciers, and snow bridges.—-
Character of valleys and supposed volcanoes.— Rivers and lakes
of Semirechia— Lake I s s ik -K u l: its origin, dimensions, shores,
antiquities, and bed. — Climate of' Semirechia. — Forests and
Mammals.
C ^ EM IR E C H IN S K , or “ seven streamed,” is the
euphonious adjective prefixed to the southernmost
of the three provinces that now make up the
General Government of the Steppe. Bounded on the
north by the provinces of Akmolinsk and Semipola-
tinsk, and on the west by the Syr-daria government,
the south and eastern frontiers of Semirechia are contiguous
to Chinese Turkistan and Sungaria, the area
of the whole being 134,410 square miles, or the size of
Belgium added to the whole of the British possessions
in Europe. Part of its western surface consists of
tracts of shifting sands and salt plains, but in the east
are rich mountain valleys with fertile black earth, and
mountain gorges lying deep in forest recesses. Most
remarkable, however, is the southern portion, the
mountainous region of the Thian Shan, which, after
the Himalayas, contains some of the most gigantic