Proceedings

of the Tomsk Technological Institute

of Emperor Nicholas II,

vol. 9. 1908. No. 1.

V.

V. A. Obruchev.

Expedition to Dzhair, Semistai and Urkashar (in Western Dzungaria)

in 1906.

With an appended map. 1–31.

Expedition to Dzhair, Semistai and Urkashar

(in Western Dzungaria)

in 1906.

(Preliminary Report).

By commission and at the expense of the Tomsk Technological Institute, in the summer of 1906 I continued the geological investigation of the mountain systems of Saur, Tarbagatai, and Maili-Barlyk, begun in 1905. During two and a half months of field work (June 5—August 19), the Urkashar, Semistai, and Kodzhur ranges were visited, lying on the eastern continuation of the Barlyk system and adjoining Saur, and the Dzhair range, which is the eastern continuation of the Maili range, as well as the adjacent valleys of the rivers Kobuk, Dyama (Orkhu), and lakes along the lower course of the Manas River. Besides myself, taking part in the journey were my son Sergei, a pupil of the Tomsk Realschule, and M. A. Usov, a fourth-year student of the mining division of the Tomsk Technological Institute, who conducted the route-and-eye survey, and in his free time engaged in geological observations, at first under my guidance and then independently. The lower personnel of the expedition consisted of my companions from the previous year—the interpreter Gaisa Musin (who also served as guide in Dzhair; for Urkashar and Semistai separate guides were hired) and his son, then a Kirghiz horseman and three workers—drivers. For travel we used seven riding horses and 20 pack donkeys.

Having left Tomsk on May 17, we arrived on May 31 in Chuguchak, where, thanks to the kind assistance of Consul S. V. Sokov, the organization of the caravan had already been so well prepared that on June 5 we were able to begin work. The route went from Chuguchak to OSO through the town of Durbuldzhin to the western foothills of Urkashar, where a one-day side excursion was made upward along the Maral-su River; then we turned south, crossed three ridges of the low Dzhaldy-kara mountains lying in the interval between Urkashar and Barlyk, passed the Ushety River, and reached the northern foothills of Dzhair at

the outlet from it of the Modon-obo River. Along the valley of this stream, we ascended to the surface of the ridge, which is a rolling plateau; we followed it eastward to the western end of the higher Katu chain, visited its highest western summit, and then descended to the somewhat lower, but more finely dissected, surface of southern Dzhair—the Darbutin Mountains—to the former residence of the Russo-Chinese gold-mining company on the Angyrty River. From here an excursion was made westward to the former gold mine An-dzhu-van-tse on the Darbuty River and into the interior of the granite massif west of this stream. Farther on, the route turns south, crossing the Angyrty and Darbuty rivers and the southern chains of Dzhair—the Kyr and Chingiz Mountains—to the Turangy-bastau spring at the southern foot of Dzhair, near Lake Sary-kul; here the freshwater Mesozoic deposits containing asphalt deposits were studied in detail. We then proceeded NE along the foot of Dzhair past the lakes Tast-utkel-kul (Sogot of the 40-verst map) and Airan-kul (Telli-nor of the same map), through which the Manas River flows; from Airan-kul we turned N, crossed the eastern end of the Chingiz and Darbutin Mountains, and passed along the northern foot of Dzhair through the residence of the Chinese gold mines of Chumpanzy to the Temir-tam coal mines, east of which the freshwater Mesozoic deposits at the Kok-tala River, the Arasan warm spring, were studied in detail; and from Chumpanzy an excursion was made to the gold mines of the Dagun area in Dzhair.

Having received at Kok-tala transport for fodder and provisions sent from Chuguchak, we crossed the desert valley between Dzhair and Urkashar from Chumpanzy to the outlet of the Djam River from the latter ridge, crossed over its southern chain, the Salken-tai Range, and through the valley between this chain and the Semistai Range proceeded ENE, crossing the southern chain of Semistai—the Tolai-tai—and, finally, the main ridge at the Sy-daban Pass, situated about 15 versts west of the Orylgun-daban Pass, which had been traversed by Pevtsov’s expedition in 1890.

Descending into the valley of the Kobuk River, we proceeded eastward down along it, visited the Kara-abryk Mountains on its left bank, and studied the gorge through which this stream cuts the Semistai Range, separating from it its eastern continuation—the Argalty Mountains. Before reaching the Kon-chesan locality on the Kobuk River, where the flat elevations on its banks come to an end, we turned west, visited the eastern end of the Kara-serke Range, crossed the Syrkhyn-gobi desert and the desert mountains of Kara-arat, and descended into the Orkh basin on the Djam River near Lake Ulustu-nor. Here excursions were made downstream along the river.

The Dyam was reached up to Lake Airik-nor, and the Mesozoic deposits of the eastern margin of the basin, containing veins of asphalt, were studied. Farther on, the route ran up the Dyam River, through the western end of the Kara-arat Mountains, to the exit of this river from the Urkashar, where the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits of the Akt-dzhart locality, containing seams of hard coal, were studied.

Having waited at this point for the arrival of the second transport of provisions and fodder from Chuguchak, we set out westward to the village of Chumysh-bastau and then turned into the Kent-sai gorge, which affords a convenient ascent to the surface of the southern chain of the Urkashar; we traversed the latter to the headwaters of the Maral-su River and then turned to the NE, crossing one after another the steps of this range—Urta-dzhon, Cholteke, Sary-zhurok, Taktai, and Akt-dzhabaga—to the southern foot of the Kodzhur. From here excursions were made—one northward through the Kodzhur to the Akt-emil River near the Bai-murza pass, where the route joined the route of 1905; the other eastward across the plateau connecting the Kodzhur, Urkashar, and Semistai with the Saurom, to the headwaters of the Kobuk River. Finally, along the crest of the Kodzhur and along its southern ledges, Kaikan and Dzhilantell, we descended into the valley of the Akt-emil River and, along the wheel road to Zaisan, returned to Chuguchak on 19 August; from there, after disbanding the caravan and dispatching the collections, we left on 24 August and, via Semipalatinsk and Omsk, arrived in Tomsk on 4 September.

In an orographic respect, in the region investigated one may distinguish two mountain systems, separated from one another by a broad valley: to the north—the Urkashar, Kodzhur, and Semistai, which constitute a single whole; to the south—the Dzhair.

By Urkashar the local population understands the mountains lying west of the Dyam River, whereas the mountains situated east of this river are called Semistai (in Kirghiz) or Katyn-ula (in Mongolian); the 40-verst map of the southern border zone of Asiatic Russia (published by the General Staff) incorrectly extends the name Urkashar to the western part of the Semistai.

Beginning from the north, in this mountain system, between the valleys of the Sary-emil (or Akt-emil) and Kara-emil rivers, we find the high massif of the Kodzhur, running in a latitudinal direction and gradually lowering toward the west; its crest is rather broad, flat-undulating, all the summits are rounded, the northern slope is longer and more gentle, while the southern is short and steep and descends in ledges, which form flat-undulating plateaus with individual names—Bolshoi and Maly Dzhilantell and Kaikan. The highest ledge, M. Dzhilantell, na-

begins at the “faithful springs” of the Kara-Emil, somewhat west of the highest part of the Kodzhur, and extends westward somewhat farther than the Kodzhur itself; the lower ledge—Kaikan, passing westward and gently descending into the Bolshoi Dzhilantel, begins west of Mt. Dzhilantel, but extends farther west than the latter, reaching almost to the confluence of the Sary and Kara-Emil rivers. The Kodzhur, in its upper part, reaches about 2600 meters above sea level; Mt. Dzhilantel is 600–800 meters lower than the Kodzhur, and Kaikan another 200–300 meters lower, descending toward the western end of the B. Dzhilantel, at the floor of the Sary-Emil valley, to 800 meters above sea level.

East of the northern summits of the Kara-Emil, adjoining the southern foot of the Kodzhur, lies the rolling plateau of Aky-dzhabaga, which tectonically constitutes the eastern continuation of Mt. Dzhilantel and merges farther east, together with the lowered Kodzhur, into one common plateau, which connects the Kodzhur, Urkashar, and Semistai with the mountains of Tepke (Kaichzhi), which are in fact the southern ledge of the Saur, separated from the main mass of the latter by the depression of the pass and the headwaters of the Chagant-obo River. This plateau represents the mountain knot shown on maps, joining the Saur with the Urkashar, Semistai, and Kodzhur, although it is lower than all these ridges, reaching about 2200–2400 meters above sea level. The plateau breaks off steeply toward the headwaters of the Kara-Emil in the west, toward the valley of the Koba (the Koba River) in the east, and toward the valley of the Chagant-obo in the north. To the south it is connected by the long and narrow rolling saddle of Emilchike, which separates the southern (left) summits of the Kara-Emil from the headwaters of the Dyam River, with the higher and more even Taktai plateau, 2400 meters above sea level, which forms the northern of the ledges of the Urkashar and is situated between the headwaters of the Kara-Emil in the west and of the Dyam in the east. From the south there adjoins it the more deeply dissected second ledge of the Urkashar—Sary-zhurok, 2300 meters above sea level—which extends farther west than the Taktai and separates the headwaters of the Kara-Emil from the headwaters of the Dzhildy-Emil. Still farther south and west lies the next (third) ledge of the Urkashar—the rolling plateau Ioly-tekche (Dzhoyl-tekche?), situated between the basin of the Dzhildy-Emil River to the north and the gorge of the Kuldyshgen-su River (a right tributary of the Dyam River) to the south; it extends westward considerably farther than the Sary-zhurok plateau, separating the Dzhildy-Emil River from the Terekty River; its absolute height is about 2000 meters. Farther south we find a fourth, somewhat higher ledge—the rolling plateau Urta-dzhoyl, about 2100 meters above sea level, which extends westward somewhat farther than the preceding one, separating the Terekty and Maral-su rivers; the rivers beginning on the po-

the surface of this plateau flow for the most part to the north and to the east into the Kuldynen-su River, and only the less significant streams of the southern escarpment belong to the basin of the Mynt-bulak (also a right tributary of the Dyam River). This plateau is bounded on the north by the rocky escarpment of Kerege-tas, most clearly expressed near the saddle separating the head of the Kuldynen-su River from the upper reaches of the Terekty River; in this western part of the northern slope two ledges may be distinguished. Urta-dzhon, the broadest and longest of the northern steps of Urkashar, is, in absolute elevation, only a little lower than Taktai (2,300 m).

To the south of it lies the last, broadest and longest ledge, forming the southern chain of Urkashar; it likewise has the appearance of an undulating plateau, gently descending northward to the foot of the southern escarpment of Urta-dzhon, and breaking off steeply southward toward the deep valley between Urkashar and Dzhair. This plateau has no special name; it might be called Kizil-getenyn-tas, after the name of its highest summit on the southern edge, which faces south with an enormous, almost sheer cliff several hundred meters high. Into the surface of this plateau cut from the west the deep gorges of the Maral-su River, and from the east the valleys of the numerous upper reaches of the Mynt-bulak River and of the Kaderge River with its tributaries (also a right tributary of the Dyam River); its absolute elevation in the northern part, along the Mynt-bulak River, is about 1,900 meters; in the southern part, near the Kaderge River, about 2,200 meters; and in the highest part near Kizil-getenyn-tas, not less than 2,300 meters, probably even 2,400 meters. In general all these steps of Urkashar are highest in the western parts, where they then descend rapidly and steeply, turning into rocky and strongly dissected narrow spurs and ridges between the gorges of Kara- and Dzhildy-emilei, Terekty, and Maral-su. Eastward from these highest points they descend slowly, and then pass into narrow and rocky chains separating the impassable gorges of the middle and lower courses of the streams Kaderge, Mynt-bulak, and Kuldynen-su and their tributaries, and then interrupted by the meridional, narrow and deep gorge of the Dyam itself. The southern step passes eastward into two lower chains, each of which is called Salken-tai, and retains this name also east of the Dyam River, where it extends for another 20 versts and then, having rapidly lowered, disappears; the northern of these chains disappears very soon along the crossing of the Dyam River. To the west this southern step of Urkashar, after descending steeply, passes into the rocky mountain group Boto-mainak, which farther west turns into the sharply jagged, lower chain Karabulak; the latter, through a low and broad saddle—

half is connected with the ranges of the lower mountains, the Dzhaildy-kara, which disappear on the left bank of the r. Ushaty, before reaching the eastern end of the Barlyk range near the Sary-khulsin picket.

The general strike of these separate parts of the Urkashar is almost latitudinal, with a slight deviation toward ONO—WSW; in the Semistai, however, we observe a WNW—OSO strike, so that the northern parts of the Urkashar, passing eastward from the r. Dzhama into the composition of the Semistai, gradually change their strike; but they also change their composition and their character, and therefore in the Semistai the separate steps that we saw in the Urkashar are no longer distinguishable, although the northern part of the latter forms one whole with the first.

The Semistai, from the headwaters of the very short left tributaries of the upper Dzhama to the Sy-daban pass, is essentially a single high chain with a very steep, up to 45°, northern slope, a rather broad undulating and rocky crest, and a gentler and longer southern slope. Parallel to its southern foot, approximately on the meridian of the eastern end of the Sandyktai chain, there arises a second, lower chain—the Tolai-tai or Tolai-ty, gradually rising eastward and, beyond the meridian of the Sy-daban pass, even exceeding the main chain of the range in height; here it presses closely against the latter, whereas to the west it is separated from it by a rather broad interval. The Tolai-ty is cut through by numerous valleys beginning on the southern slope of the Semistai, so that it has no continuous watershed. The absolute height of the Semistai at the Sy-daban pass is about 1,900 meters; the neighboring summits rise 100–200 meters higher, but the highest part of the range, west of this pass, reaches no less than 2,400–2,300 meters in absolute height; in this part of the Semistai there are absolutely no passes accessible to pack animals, and the range, for a distance of about 40 versts, from the headwaters of the r. Dzhama (where there are passes into the valley of the r. Kobuk) to the Sy-daban pass, can be crossed only on foot, owing to the extraordinary steepness and rockiness of the northern slope.

East of the Sy-daban, the Semistai rapidly lowers and loses the character of a regular range with a clearly defined crest, turning into a belt of small hills, at times widening and at times narrowing, with separate higher summits, groups of summits, and rocky ridges of varying strike. In this part of the Semistai lies the low Orylgyn-daban pass (1,381 meters according to Pevtsov), and east of it the range is crossed even by two wheeled...

by roads; the first (western) one runs along the ravines of Kent-sai on the northern slope and Kamysh-bulak on the southern; the second (eastern) crosses the mountains near the river Kobuk, where the pass of our route is about 1,000 meters in absolute elevation. The same character of low hill country is possessed by the Semistai on both sides of the breach made by the river Kobuk, but somewhat farther east it rises again, forming the Arlanty Mountains with three higher and rocky groups of summits that terminate the ridge. Still farther east, on the same line but after a considerable break, lies the flat ridge of Delegun, which from our route was poorly visible. About 15 versts to the south of the southern foot of the Semistai (or rather Tolai-taya), amid the Syrkhyn-gobi plain, rises one more parallel chain of the same system—the Kara-serke, or Khara-syrke, ridge, about 30 versts long and extending almost latitudinally. Beginning as small hills some 10 versts west of the river Kobuk near the Churchut-khuduk well (absolute elevation about 800 meters), the Kara-serke rapidly rises to 1,300–1,400 meters and stretches westward in the form of a rocky chain with a sharp, finely serrated crest, a steep and short southern slope, and a gentler and longer northern slope; it has only one more prominent summit in its western half and, on the meridian of Orygun-daban, lowers and disappears. But still farther west and somewhat south, after a considerable interval, amid the desert of the left bank of the river Djam, there lies a low mountain group of small dimensions, called Kara-serkast.

The next mountain system to the south, Dzhair, like the Kodzhur–Urkashar–Semistai system, is a combination of several parts of different character. In general, eastern Dzhair, explored in 1906, may be called a high and more or less uneven plateau, gradually lowering to the south and steeply truncated on the north. Dzhair has this character chiefly west of the Katu Mountains, while its northern part is higher and more level; the southern part, lower, consists of two rather sharply expressed and deeply dissected chains—the Darbutin Mountains to the north and the Kyr Mountains to the south—and in the space between them of a lower and less dissected granitic massif. East of the described area, above the level northern part of Dzhair, rises the considerably higher and dissected Katu chain, as if planted upon its surface, about 40 versts long and reaching up to 1,900 meters in absolute elevation; the plateau at its western foot has an elevation of about 1,500 meters, and farther west up to 1,600–1,800 meters in absolute elevation. At the southern foot of the Katu Mountains directly

adjoining it is a more or less clearly expressed broad upland valley, bordered on the southeast by the continuation of the Darbutin Mountains and opening into the valley between Dzhair and Urkashar somewhat west of the Chumaldzy residence. In this same eastern part of Dzhair the chain of the Darbutin Mountains is broader than in the west and is separated by the broad valley of the lower reaches of the Darbuty River from the southernmost chain of Dzhair—the Chingiz Mountains, which form the eastern continuation of the above-mentioned Kyr Mountains.

At the extreme east, all the enumerated parts of Dzhair gradually become lower and disappear. The northern plateau, which for some time continues along the northern foot of the Katu Mountains, east of Mount Azna becomes ever narrower and more dissected, bends around from the north the eastern end of the Katu Mountains, from which it is separated by the high valley of Bel-agach, and ends as low hills in the above-mentioned valley west of Chumaldzy. The Darbutin Mountains extend considerably farther east, also turning at the end into low hills, and a little east of them the Chingiz chain and the desert of the valley between Urkashar and Dzhair on the right bank of the Dam River end in the same kind of low hills, which bend around the eastern end of Dzhair and join the valley of the Manas River.

But somewhat farther east, on the banks of the Dam River, in the continuation of the Darbutin Mountains, we find, in the interval between the Syrkhyn-gobi plain and the Orkhu basin, the low Kara-arat chain with a gentle and strongly smoothed northern slope and a steeper and shorter southern one. West of the Dam River this chain appears only as small hills and soon disappears amid the desert; to the east, however, it is further concealed beneath the thicknesses of transgressing Mesozoic deposits. The absolute heights of the various parts of Dzhair, besides those indicated above, are as follows: the Darbutin Mountains in the west (near the Angyrty River)—about 1500–1600 meters; in the east, 800 meters (at the Dagun mine) and about 600 meters (in the valley of the lower Darbuty); the granite plateau in the west, 1200–1450 meters; the Kyr Mountains, 950–1100 meters; the Chingiz Mountains at their eastern end, about 650 meters; finally, Kara-arat, about 650 meters.

The character of the vegetation cover also depends on the absolute height: the high levels of Urkashar and Kodzhur, the Semistai Range, and the northern plateau of Dzhair represent more or less rich alpine meadows, serving as places of summer nomadizing for the Kirghiz and Mongols; tree vegetation is absent, unless one counts two species of juniper, growing in dense clumps, especially in the areas where granite is distributed; in the deeper valleys—

[[unclear: beginning of word]] on the slopes facing north, some deciduous trees appear (aspen, willow, osier). Some of the highest and rockiest parts of this alpine zone are, however, more barren in meadows, such as, for example, the upper part of Kodzhur, the summits of Semistai, while the high Katu chain, owing to the steepness of its slopes and its geological composition (of siliceous and other schists rich in quartz), consists chiefly of bare rocks and talus. As one descends to places of lesser elevation, the alpine flora becomes poorer and disappears, giving way to desert-steppe flora; in this district—to which belong the lower ranges, the Derbutin Mountains, Kyr, Chingiz, Salken-tai, Tolai-tai, eastern Semistai, Kara-abryk—the grass on the slopes is now scanty; wormwoods and other plants that like dry land predominate. Taller vegetation is confined to the bottoms of valleys irrigated by water, where groves of poplars, dzhigda, talnik, and, in places, white birch and aspen alternate with dense thickets of reed, rosehip, and chi, sometimes forming an impenetrable stand. With further lowering of the terrain, grass on the slopes disappears and wormwood bushes become sparse, concentrating mainly in hollows, gullies, along the bottoms of ravines, and in dry channels. The mountains acquire the complete character of a waterless and barren desert: rocks, cliffs, ridges, and smoothed outcrops of bedrock alternate with more or less coarse talus or with areas of fine gravel mixed with clayey sand or loam; such a character is found on the southern and eastern margins of Dzhair and Kara-arat.

The northernmost of the more significant valleys of the area investigated, namely the valley of the Kobuk River, separates Semistai from Saur and Mus-tau; its absolute elevation first decreases from west to east, namely from 1,700 meters at the Matenya kumirnya to 900 meters on the banks of the Kobuk River above the river’s breakthrough through Semistai; farther east its elevation again rises, and the valley passes between Saur and Argaly beyond the limits of the investigated area toward Lake Ulungur. The Kobuk River flows along the southern part of the valley near the foot of Semistai and, along its left bank, is bordered by groups of small hills and knolls of Kara-aldyr south of the Matenya kumirnya and, farther east, by the chain of low mountains Kara-abryk, about 40 versts long, ending a little east of the breakthrough of the Kobuk River through Semistai. These hills and mountains separate the Kobuk River and the southern part of the valley from the northern part adjoining the foot of Saur.

To the west the Kobuk valley is closed by the above-mentioned plateau that connects Kodzhur, Kaidzhi, and Semistai and breaks off steeply toward the

Kobuk; and its continuation after this break may be considered the valley of the Kara-Emil River, which separates the Koldzhur from Urkashar, then merges with the valley of the Ak-Emil and forms a broad interval between Tarbagatai and Barlyk.

The second main valley, lying between Urkashar and Dzhair, is the direct continuation of the valley of the Kup River, which separates Barlyk from Maili. Its peculiarity is that it is not irrigated by one and the same river along its entire length, but is crossed by several streams; to the west we find the Ushety River, flowing into the Emil River, and its tributaries; all of them begin on the northern slope of Dzhair and flow northward. Farther east flows the large Dyam River, which begins on Urkashar and crosses the whole valley; in between are several brooks formed from springs at the foot of Urkashar, such as Kara-bulak, Burkutai and Mukurtai, or at the foot of Dzhair, such as Kok-tala and Chumpatszy, flowing for some time eastward, forming oases amid the desert, and then disappearing before reaching the Dyam (however, the local population believes that the spring-fed Kara-Su stream, which flows into the Dyam from the right, is formed from the waters of Mukurtai and Kok-tala that have disappeared underground). The oasis of Kok-tala is also irrigated by the Temirtem River, which flows out of Dzhair and is apparently the only one along the entire length of its northern slope east of the Ushety River. The Dyam River itself, with much water at its exit from Urkashar, soon diminishes more and more and for a certain stretch is completely without water; then water again appears in its channel in small quantity, but in summer it does not reach the Orkhu basin, and only in the deeper places of the channel do pools of water remain, fed by an underground current. It deserves mention that in spring the Dyam River, from the Orkhu basin, branches out, and one of its branches flows north, emptying into Lake Ulustu-nor, while the other, the main one, turns south into Lake Airyk-nor.

The eastern part of the valley described, beyond the Dyam River, has no running water, and only at two points of the Khara-Syrkhe ridge, rising in the midst of the valley, are there small springs; the two branches of the valley enclosing this ridge again join before the Kobuk River; in this eastern part the valley reaches its greatest width, extending from Semistai to Kara-arata.

The absolute elevations of the valley described are as follows: at the Ushety River 700–800 meters; at Kok-tala 700 meters; between the residence of Chumpatszy and the outlet of the Dyam from Urkashar 650–700 meters; on the Dyam River at the Kara-su stream 500 meters; in the Orkhu basin 300 meters; on the Kobuk River 800 meters.

The river Dyam forms a link between the valley being described and the valley that borders the chain of Dzhair on the south; the latter is irrigated by the river Manas, which passes either through, or by means of a considerable branch across, the small lakes Sary-kul, then through the more considerable lake Tast-utkel-kul (corresponding to Lake Sogot of the 40-verst map, but falling far short of the size shown on the map), and finally through Lake Ayran-kul—the largest, corresponding to Lake Telli-nor of the 40-verst map; the latter name has apparently been assigned to Ayran-kul in error. Telli-nor (which means “pair of lakes”) does in fact exist, but is situated to the NE of Ayran-kul; these are two small lakes into which, during the flood season, water from Ayrik-nor, i.e. the water of the river Dyam, enters; from them, in turn, when water is abundant, there is an outflow into Lake Ayran-kul, where, consequently, the water of the Dyam and the water of the Manas are mixed. From Ayran-kul throughout the entire year there is an outflow of water along the channel Kupyr to the NE into Lake Kobuk (Orkhu of the 40-verst map), so considerable that in summer it breaks off communication. The river Kobuk itself, even during the flood season, does not enter Lake Kobuk.

Although we did not visit either Lake Kobuk or the true Telli-nor, the above information obtained by questioning the Mongols both in the locality of Orkhu and on the river Kobuk apparently corresponds to reality, although it does not agree with the data of the 40-verst map and with the information gathered by Pevtsov’s expedition in 1889–90.

The absolute elevation of this valley at the southern foot of Dzhair is 310–320 meters on the bank of the river Manas below Lake Tast-utkel-kul, and 280–290 meters at the northern end of Lake Ayran-kul. Its bottom consists of vast expanses of reeds, growing for the most part in water and enclosing, as mentioned above, the larger lakes as well as a multitude of small lakes; between the margin of the reeds and the foot of Dzhair stretch khaki and solonchaks, here and there with mounds of tamarisk and kharmyk sands.

In the interval between the eastern extremity of Dzhair and the river Dyam, in two places there are also oases independent of the Dyam; the first of them extends along the river Chumpadzy beside the northern foot of Dzhair and then goes far to the SE into the desert in the form of a belt of meadows and poplar groves of Dust-turanga; the second is situated along the lower reaches of the river Darbuty, whose waters disappear on leaving Dzhair for the desert, but underground feed the springs of the localities Tyura-bastau and Bish-bastau, which form a discontinuous chain of small

groves, meadows, thickets of reeds and chia; this chain reaches as far as the northern end of Lake Airan-kul, into which the Darbuty River flows during the flood season. This little river—the most considerable watercourse of Dzhair—is formed from springs on the southern slope of the western plateau, cuts obliquely across the Darbuty Mountains, and then flows along the valley between these mountains and the Chingiz chain to the eastern end of Dzhair.

With respect to the vegetation cover, all the valleys described represent transitions from oases to complete desert, depending on the abundance of running and underground water. Along the banks of the rivers and around the springs we find dense vegetation—extensive thickets of reeds and grasses alternating with groves of balsam poplar, willow, dzhigida, clumps of wild rose, and other shrubs. Toward the outskirts of the oases and along dry channels that carry water only in spring or during flood season, broad-leaved poplar and tamarisk predominate, while reeds give way to chia; still farther from the water appear saxaul (south of Semistai and Urkashar), kharmyk, karagana, and other shrubs that tolerate drought; the grasses become sparse and gradually disappear, and finally we see vast expanses of entirely bare desert with sandy-clayey soil, more or less strewn with gravel and covered with a more or less intense “black crust.” Among these expanses, here and there, sometimes at distances of tens or hundreds of sazhens from one another, are scattered areas with small shrubs, usually corresponding to dry channels or depressions where water at least occasionally accumulates. But this shrub growth is green only in spring and at the beginning of summer, and from the second half of June it dries up; for the greater part of the year the desert presents an alternation of brown-black bare areas and yellow overgrown patches.

In geological composition, the areas investigated have much in common with Barlyk, Maili, and East Tarbagatai. Here too the most widespread are Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary rocks, represented by various clayey, quartz, and siliceous shales, hard sandstones, more rarely shaly clays and limestones; in places these rocks, especially the Carboniferous ones, are rich in fossils, which make it possible to determine their age precisely. In Dzhair, Devonian deposits are especially (if not exclusively) widespread; in Urkashar and Semistai there are both these and others; in the first, Carboniferous rocks in places contain thick beds of carbonaceous clays with interlayers of poor coal. In Kara-arat, which forms a continuation of Dzhair, only Devonian was encountered; in Kara-gerke, apparently, likewise. As in the region of the investigations of 1905,

gneisses and Archean crystalline schists; Cambrian and Silurian are absent in Urkashar, Kodzhur, Semistai, and Dzhair. Mesozoic deposits, whose presence in the area of the 1905 work had been in question, are rather widely distributed in the valleys and foothills; in places they contain very abundant plant remains (trunks, stems, leaf impressions), sometimes excellently preserved. Judging from the latter, these rocks belong chiefly to the Jurassic system, and partly, perhaps, also to the Triassic. These deposits are fresh-water and shallow-water; they consist of various coarse and fine sandstones, conglomerates, shaly and carbonaceous clays, in places with numerous interbeds of stone or brown coal, sometimes of sufficient thickness and good quality. The color of these rocks is for the most part dirty yellow, but in places white, bright yellow, pink, yellow-red, and dark-red colors predominate. Concretions are widespread, mostly ferruginous ones, as are also interbeds of clayey ferruginous rock; in places there is an abundance of veins, nests, and concretions of gypsum. In these same rocks, at three points, deposits of asphalt occur.

Tertiary deposits of typical Central Asian character, in the form of coarse clayey sandstones passing into conglomerates, more or less shaly clays, and marls of reddish-yellow and light brick-red color, are also fairly widespread in the large valleys, in the form of hills at the foot of the ranges; but in most cases these rocks have already been washed away or are concealed beneath thicknesses of post-Tertiary alluvium. Of useful minerals they contain only gypsum; no organic remains have been found in them. They rest unconformably upon the Mesozoic deposits, in places with a clear transgression, and are dislocated more weakly than the former, although in places still rather strongly.

Post-Tertiary deposits are in places represented by typical loess, occurring both on valley floors and on large heights—for example, on the Urkashar plateaus—but not attaining great thickness. More often these deposits are represented by river and lake alluvium and by more or less coarse gravel-sandy-clayey sediments forming the soils of the deserts.

Metamorphic schists, in the form of various hornfelses derived from Carboniferous and Devonian deposits owing to the contact effects of granitic massifs, occur rather often in Dzhair, Urkashar, Kodzhur, and Semistai.

Among the massive-crystalline rocks, the most widespread are biotite and biotite-hornblende granites and

granite-syenites, which chiefly form large massifs of various size in Urkashar, Kodzhur, Dzhair, and Semistai; along their margins, in the metamorphosed schists, veins of granite, aplite, and granite-porphyry are very abundant. Evidently connected with the same massifs are also the quartz veins encountered in the Devonian deposits—locally in enormous quantity—in Dzhair and Kara-arat, although also at considerable distances from the granite.

Various porphyries—quartz, felsitic, ortho- and keratophyres—associated with tuffs and breccias are in places also very widespread, chiefly in Semistai and the southern part of Urkashar, and also in the Kara-abryk Mountains along the Kebug River; less so in Kodzhur and Dzhair. They form veins and stocks, more rarely small massifs.

Diorites and diabases, often passing into porphyrites, occur rarely, chiefly in the form of veins in granites and Devonian rocks.

Melaphyres, on the contrary, are widely distributed, are accompanied by tuffs and breccias, and are associated with Devonian and Carboniferous deposits: they occur chiefly along fault lines on the margins of ridges and of their separate parts, and have been found in Kodzhur, Urkashar, Semistai, along the northern margin of Dzhair, in Kara-abryk and Kara-serke, and in Kara-arat.

The age of the massive-crystalline rocks is determined rather closely by their relations to one another and to the sedimentary rocks. The most ancient are the gray granite-syenites, passing into syenites; their age is apparently post-Devonian and pre-Carboniferous, since they cut the Devonian rocks of Dzhair, but have not been found in contact with Carboniferous deposits. They are distributed in Dzhair, the southern chain of Urkashar, Semistai, and partly in Kara-abryk. The red granites, distributed much more widely than the preceding rocks, are Carboniferous or post-Carboniferous, since they cut Devonian and Carboniferous rocks and the gray syenite-granites; they make up a large part of the granite massifs of Dzhair, Urkashar, Kodzhur, Semistai, and Kara-abryk.

The melaphyres, whose tuffs and breccias alternate with Devonian and Carboniferous rocks, evidently have a Devonian and Carboniferous age. Most of the porphyries, likewise associated with tuffs and breccias, are younger than the melaphyres, since they cut the latter in the form of veins and stocks; some porphyries, on the contrary, are cut by melaphyre and are more ancient.

Diorites and diabases, passing into porphyrites, are younger than the granites and Devonian deposits, since they cut both in the form of ...

where they lived, but probably older than the Carboniferous rocks, since they have not been encountered among the latter.

The Mesozoic deposits are not intersected by any igneous rocks; consequently, the periods of outpouring and eruption of the massive-crystalline rocks ended before the formation of these deposits.

The Paleozoic rocks are very strongly dislocated, forming complex and steep folds of various directions, both parallel to the present-day ridges and diagonal to them. The Mesozoic rocks are also dislocated, but more weakly and not everywhere; near the ridges they form fairly steep folds, while with increasing distance the degree of dislocation gradually weakens, and in places—for example, in the Orkhu basin—the strata lie almost horizontally; the Tertiary deposits, with a few exceptions, are only weakly dislocated.

As in the area of the 1905 work, the present-day relief of the locality investigated is determined not by folding, but by disjunctive dislocation: the ridges are for the most part horsts, and the valleys—grabens. Thus, for example, Urkashar represents a complex horst consisting of several steps of different height and different composition; beginning from the north, we see the Kodzhur step, made predominantly of massive granite; then the Ak-Dzhabag plateau, of Devonian rocks, melaphyres and porphyries, connected by a bridge of Carboniferous deposits with the higher granite plateau Taktai; south of the latter lies the Sary-Zhurok step, of porphyries and melaphyres; then the Chol-Tekche plateau, of the same rocks, Devonian and Carboniferous deposits; farther on follows the Urta-Dzhon plateau, of Devonian rocks, porphyries and melaphyres; and, finally, the southern step Kizil-Tegenyn-Tas, of massive granite, porphyries, Devonian and Carboniferous deposits and melaphyres. It is necessary to note that the Carboniferous rocks occur for the most part on the margins of the separate steps—for example, between Ak-Dzhabag and Taktai, between Sary-Zhurok and Chol-Tekche—and, within the Kizil-Tegenyn-Tas step, in the interval between the granites and the porphyries.

Semistai likewise represents a large oblique horst, steeply cut off from the north and gently sloping to the south, forming the eastern continuation of certain steps of Urkashar, apparently—Taktai, Sary-Zhurok, Chol-Tekche and Urta-Dzhon; along the line of the Sy-Daban pass it consists of granites, porphyries, melaphyres and partly Devonian deposits, and at the gorge of the Kobuk River—of melaphyres, porphyries and Carboniferous deposits. The southern chain of Semistai—Tolai-ty—consists of porphyries and melaphyres and is probably the southern step of the fault. The not wholly independent chain Kara-ab-

the river valley of Kobuk, consisting of granites, porphyries, melaphyres and, in part, Devonian deposits, most likely represents the northern step of the same horst, but one that has sunk considerably more than the Ak-dzhabach step lying on its western continuation. The separate Kara-sereke chain, composed of Devonian deposits and melaphyres, apparently represents a small, separate horst.

Dzhair is a very broad horst, steeply cut off from the north and gently descending to the south; it is possible that the Darbutinskii mountains and the chains of Kyr and Chingiz represent the southern steps of this horst. The composition of this horst consists chiefly of Devonian rocks and melaphyres. Kara-arat—the eastern continuation of Dzhair—consisting of Devonian rocks, porphyries and melaphyres, likewise represents a horst, or rather the remnants of an eroded horst with a steep southern and gentle northern slope.

Very remarkable is the even surface of the greater part of these horsts, approaching in many cases a “pene-plain,” as, for example, in most of the steps of Urkashar and in the western half of Dzhair, despite their varied composition: a flat-undulating surface with alpine meadows extends over granites, over porphyries and melaphyres, and over Devonian deposits, i.e. over rocks of the most diverse composition, differing hardness, and different conditions of occurrence. These high almost-plains present an extremely sharp contrast with the deep and wild, often completely inaccessible gorges, sharp rocky ridges and spurs into which the steep slopes of the horsts are dissected. Undoubtedly these plains arose on the site of more ancient folded mountains, owing to the long-term destructive work of atmospheric agents and marine abrasion, long before the formation of the horsts, i.e. before the beginning of major disjunctive dislocations. But for now I still find it difficult to decide the question of whether these plains formerly lay high or low, i.e. whether the horsts subsequently rose above the general level, or whether, on the contrary, they remained at their former elevation while the present valleys were conditioned by the subsidence of parts of the earth’s crust.

These movements, associated with the eruption of melaphyres and partly of porphyries, took place chiefly at the end of the Paleozoic and at the beginning of the Mesozoic, since sandy and shallow-water Mesozoic deposits do not form part of the horsts, but form their low foothills—table hills and ridges. But the dislocation of these deposits parallel to the margins of the horsts indicates that in Mesozoic time as well the movements of parts of the earth’s crust continued, in places more

strongly, as, for example, at the southern foot of Salken-tau, where the Mesozoic strata dip steeply and are even broken by faults, or around the eastern end of Kara-serke, where in places they are sheer or even overturned; in places, however, their dislocation is much weaker, as, for example, on both sides of Dzhair, where these rocks form flat folds. At Kara-arat, in Mesozoic time, there were already no movements; this range must have been covered by the waters of the Mesozoic sea, the deposits of which even now in places rise to its crest and lie almost horizontally.

To an even weaker degree the movements were repeated also at the end of the Tertiary epoch, since the Tertiary deposits, in places clearly transgressing upon the Mesozoic, are likewise dislocated; their dislocation is sometimes rather strong, as, for example, at the southern foot of the same Salken-tau, where the beds dip at an angle of up to 45°, but in the majority of cases it is much weaker. The waters of the Tertiary sea rose fairly high onto the slopes of the ranges, entering certain valleys, for example, the valley between Salken-tau and Semistai, open to the east, but this sea did not cover the surface of the ranges, at least of the higher ones.

Signs of ancient glaciation were encountered in Urkashar and Semistai, but far from as clear as in Saur according to the investigations of 1905; one may think that the extensive surfaces of the high plateaus during the glacial period were covered by firn fields, from which more or less considerable glaciers descended in all directions along the gorges. But later intensive erosion, in these steeply falling gorges, has in most cases already succeeded in destroying the traces of glaciation; therefore remnants of corries, lateral and terminal moraines are met with rarely and for the most part are indistinct, although the character of the upper reaches of most gorges within the plateau, where their fall is less considerable, is typically glacial, with more or less extensive flat cirques. In many places of Urkashar the snowfields are preserved even at the present time until the middle or even the end of July. In Dzhair the signs of glaciation are still less clear, and such glaciation may be supposed, and then only to a slight degree, only for the highest and level northern part of the massif, including the Katu ridge set upon it.

Of the useful minerals, in the locality investigated the greatest attention is deserved by gold, fossil coal, and asphalt. Gold, both alluvial and ore, is found in many places of Dzhair; its source is the quartz veins, cutting in abundance through the Devonian deposits and, probably, genetically

connected with the extensive and numerous granite massifs of this range. Before the Dungan rebellion, i.e., until the seventies of the nineteenth century, throughout eastern Dzhair, to the south and east of the Katu River gorge, Chinese gold mines and diggings were scattered; judging by the scale of the workings, hundreds of people labored there for a long time. In addition to the workings (shafts and prospecting pits), the ruins of gold-seekers’ settlements and the remains of stone (granite) bowls have survived to this day; in these bowls gold-bearing quartz was crushed with stone rollers; tailings of washed quartz are also found. During the rebellion the gold-seekers were partly slaughtered by the Dungans, partly fled, and all work ceased until the end of the nineteenth century, when a Russian-Chinese company was formed, founded by the gold industrialist A. V. Moskvin; this company resumed work at some of the mines, established two residences with washing plants—on the Angyrty River and on the Chumagzy River—drove one deep shaft for exploration, but mainly engaged in reworking the old dumps of the Chinese mines, which contained a considerable amount of gold. Judging by these dumps, the Chinese miners, extracting vein quartz, sought only visible gold and washed only certain parts of veins containing such gold, while the remaining quartz they threw onto the dumps.

The work of this company and the old mines are briefly described by the mining engineer K. A. Kulibin, who came, at A. V. Moskvin’s invitation, to Dzhair in 1900.¹ Two years later the company ceased its activity, having failed to obtain favorable results and without completing the exploration; the mines and equipment passed to the Chinese government. At present, only the washing plant of the Chumagzy residence operates, and then only intermittently; there they process exclusively quartz from the dumps, both of the company’s and of the Chinese mines of the nearest part of Dzhair; mining operations have been completely discontinued. According to the data of the plant, the gold content in the quartz of the dumps reaches from 13 to 18.5 zolotniks per 100 poods.

The gold-bearing quartz veins of Dzhair have various orientations, being sometimes bedded, sometimes cross-cutting, but almost always steeply dipping; for the most part their thickness is small, 1–2 feet, rarely up to 2 arshins; although in places there are swellings of up to several sazhens, they are apparently poor or barren, since I did not happen to see deep shafts in such swellings. Quartz

more or less ocherous, sometimes with copper-green, black chalcedony and brown ironstone; visible gold is usually found near one of the albands.

The bedrock of the area investigated belongs for the most part to Mesozoic (Jurassic?) deposits; only in one part of Urkashar, namely near the Kizil-su River between the Sary-zhurok and Chol-tekche plateaus, do considerable thicknesses of coaly clays of Carboniferous age, containing in their outcrops coal interbeds, make it possible to infer the presence of more substantial seams of Paleozoic coal. Mesozoic deposits contain, almost everywhere and at various horizons, interbeds of coal, sometimes destroyed by fires which have burned and vitrified the overlying and underlying beds. More substantial seams deserving exploitation are so far known in two places: on both banks of the Dyam River below its emergence from Urkashar—in the Ak-dzhar locality—and in the Temirtam locality at the northern foot of Dzhair. In the first locality there are numerous seams of fairly good coal, from 1 foot to 1–1½ arshins thick, in places with a steep dip of up to 60–79°, and in places with a gentle dip. Temirtam is a table-like elevation on the left bank of the river of the same name, 40 versts west of the Chuguchak residence; here, too, at various horizons, occur seams of coal of varying quality, apparently lenticular in character, swelling in places to 6–8 arshins in thickness. This deposit has been worked on a small scale for many years already and is mentioned in the above-cited article by K. A. Kulibin¹; the coal is delivered to the Chuguchak residence for firing the steam boiler of the washing factory and for dwelling houses, and also, in small quantities during the cold season, to the towns of Durbuldzhin and Chuguchak for heating barracks and government buildings. The Mesozoic beds form gentle folds at Temirtam, so that the coal lies now almost horizontally, now with a gentle dip to one side or the other. Down to a depth of 15–20 sazhens from the surface, which the Chinese workings reach, there is no inflow of water. Inclined shafts with the simplest ladders (stepladders) and almost without reinforcement serve for the descent and ascent of people; coal is raised through vertical shafts by means of a windlass set in motion by the strength of a single donkey. The extraction is by pillars, with collapse of the roof.

Deposits of asphalt belong to the same Mesozoic deposits and are found in three places: 1) at the southern foot of Dzhair—

east of the Turanga-bastau locality and somewhat west of Lake Tasty-utkel-kul, 2) on the heights of the left bank of the Dyam River in the Oru ravine, and 3) at the eastern end of the Kara-serke ridge.

In the first locality, at the southern foot of Dzhair, there extend flat ridges and table hills composed of Mesozoic deposits—soft sandstones, fine conglomerates, and shaly clays—and cut by shallow dry valleys; on the floors of these valleys, at three points, lie flat hills consisting entirely of pure asphalt. On each hill there is one or several small round pits, 1–1½ arshins deep, filled with water; from the bottom of the pits bubbles of gas, warm water, and thick dark-brown or black oxidized oil (mineral tar, or mountain tar) are constantly or periodically emitted. The latter accumulates as a thin layer on the surface of the basin and gradually flows, together with the water, over its edge, in one or several little streams, down the slopes of the hill; in doing so it thickens more and more, and eventually turns into asphalt. In this manner these hills were formed and are gradually increasing. The pits from which gas, water, and mountain tar are emitted are situated either on the tops of the hills or on their slopes; depending on the age of the hill and the abundance of the springs, the hills have different dimensions. The westernmost of them—apparently the oldest—reaches several tens of meters in height and covers an area of about a square verst; on it there are several pits with outflows of tar. In the second group, about a verst farther east, I counted five or six hills of less considerable size, stretched one behind another along a single line of almost latitudinal direction. The third group, half a verst to the northeast of the second, is formed by three hills, of which one lies on the floor of the valley and two on its gentle slope.

The Mesozoic deposits composing the locality are dislocated and locally rather strongly; the study of the conditions of bedding of the strata around the asphalt hills suggests that the outflows of thickened oil to the surface are confined to a line of disjunctive dislocation, namely to a ruptured flexure; the westernmost hill, apparently, is even something in the nature of an uplift crater, since the strata around its foot dip periclinally.

In recent years this deposit has begun to be exploited: our guide Gaisa Musin has taken up the delivery of solid asphalt, collected on the slopes of the hills, to the town of Chuguchak; in addition, Chinese arriving from the town of Shikho extract liquid tar by making small dams along the path of the streams flowing down the slopes.

and collecting, by means of ladles, tar from the surface of the water both in these dams and in the basins themselves. Since the collection of tar proceeds slowly, the Chinese leave a watchman, to whom the Chinese government supplies barrels and other vessels for gradual filling, while they themselves come from time to time, bring empty vessels, and take away the filled ones. Mountain tar is used by the Chinese for greasing the axles of carts, but not for industrial processing; they completely neglect the solid asphalt.

Since the locality near the asphalt hills is devoid of fresh water, the watchman, the visiting Chinese, and their animals use the water that issues in the pits together with the tar; this water in most pits is turbid and rather warm, while in the pits on the hills of the third group it is clear and cold, but with the taste of sealing-wax; neither people nor animals suffer from using this water, and they soon become accustomed to its resinous taste.

The second deposit, on the left slope of the basin of the River Dzham, called Orkhu, has an entirely different character; here, too, the locality is composed of similar Mesozoic deposits, lying horizontally, but strongly dissected by erosion and deflation. Owing to these processes, the terrain of the left slope of Orkhu strikingly resembles the ruins of an enormous city scattered over an area of several square versts; here we see everywhere the remains of high walls, round and angular towers, large and small castles, forts, obelisks, and sphinxes, arranged now separately, now in rows resembling streets, now in groups and extensive plots. In one part of this locality, surpassing in its originality everything that I had occasion to see in the vast expanses of Asia, we accidentally came upon a deposit of asphalt. This substance occurs here in the form of veins, of which we counted eleven; some of them quickly pinch out, others extend for tens of sazhen, and one or two could be followed for more than half a verst; the thickness of the veins ranges from 1–2 vershoks to 1 arshin, all dip vertically or very steeply; the strike is ONO–WSW. The asphalt in the veins is black, brittle, with a strong resinous lustre and a conchoidal fracture; the rocks of the footwall and hanging wall of the veins, consisting chiefly of soft and fine-grained sandstones, are impregnated with asphalt for a greater or lesser distance, from 2–3 vershoks to 2–3 arshins. Owing to this, they long resist weathering and erosion, and as a result the most fantastic forms are produced—long, thin and thick walls with teeth and openings, consisting of as-

...of asphalted sandstone, situated on the crests of long hills, intersecting gorges and valleys, which here turn into canyons; black, large fragments of asphalted sandstone and small pieces of asphalt in places cover the slopes and the crests of the hills.

Although the Mesozoic strata of the Orkhu locality are almost horizontal, the occurrence of the asphalt in the form of a series of parallel veins compels one to think that here, too, the outcrops of thickened petroleum occurred along fissures formed by disjunctive dislocation.

Finally, at a third point, near the eastern end of the Kara-Serke range, among hills composed of the same Mesozoic deposits but strongly dislocated, there must be a deposit of asphalt, judging by pieces of this fossil found by us near the Churchut-kuduk well. Here there are also remains of a wall; according to inquiries, Chinese landowners of the Kobuk River valley saved themselves from the Dungans in this locality, and they probably left these pieces of asphalt, used by them, perhaps, as fuel. The deposit must be located somewhere in the vicinity, but we had no time to search for it.

It remains to note that, several versts west of the first asphalt deposit, at the southern foot of Dzhair, in the Tuet-agny valley below the Turangy-bastau spring, among Mesozoic deposits of the lowest visible horizons, there occur rather considerable strata of strongly bituminous coarse sandstones and fine conglomerates. Of course, without prospecting by drilling it is impossible to decide whether all these deposits are connected with the presence of more or less considerable reserves of petroleum in the deeper strata of the Mesozoic deposits.

During the investigations of 1906 I also continued to make observations concerning the development and distribution of the black crust (the so-called desert varnish) and various phenomena of weathering; in this respect the region of investigation was very favorable, thanks to the extensive development of rocks that weather easily and produce interesting and varied forms—namely, various granites on the one hand, and Mesozoic deposits differing in composition and hardness on the other. In addition, in the granites it was possible to observe the influence of altitude and of the amount of atmospheric precipitation connected with it on the degree and character of weathering. Thus, for example, granite of the same composition and structure which, in Dzhair, where precipitation is abundant, is distinguished by an abundance of niches, galleries, and other honeycomb cavities, etc., on the surface of Urkashar, richly precipitated...

stones, presents the same forms of weathering as in our northern latitudes.

Besides geological and geographical observations, the results of the 1906 expedition are: 1) a collection of rocks, fossils, and soils, from approximately 2,000 specimens; 2) a route survey of the entire route covered over 2½ months, at a scale of 4 versts to the inch, carefully carried out by the student M. A. Usov; this survey will make it possible to compile a map of Dzhair, Urkashar, and Semistai with the adjoining valleys, one more in accord with reality than the existing maps; 3) determinations of elevations by means of aneroid and hypsothermometer at 112 points; 4) more than 300 successful photographic views of localities, forms of weathering, etc.

In conclusion I cannot refrain from saying a few words concerning earlier investigations in this region. Despite the close proximity of this part of Dzungaria to the Russian frontier and the comparative accessibility of its ranges and valleys, Semistai and Dzhair have up to now been very little explored, while Kodzhur and Urkashar have not even been visited by travelers at all. In the majority of cases, only expeditions whose areas of work lay much farther away passed through these localities, so to speak, of necessity, on their way there or back.

The first information is given us by Matusovsky, who in 1871 carried out a route survey from Zaisan through the valley of the Emil River to the town of Manas; upon this survey, apparently, is based the depiction of the cart road from Durbuldzhin through Dzhair on existing maps¹. Somewhat later Sosnovsky, during his Bulun-Tokhoi expedition, traveled along the Koby valley from the kum. Matenya to Lake Ulyungur and saw Semistai from a distance; he also conducted a survey and describes the valley in considerable detail². Pevtsov, in 1876, traveling with a caravan to Guchen, passed along the same valley; his description adds something to Sosnovsky’s data³. Przhevalsky, on the eve of his 2nd journey (to Lop-nor), on the return route from Guchen, made an interesting route from the Kobyka River to Kuldzha,

during which he crossed eastern Semistai, passed along the valley between this range and Tolai-ty, crossed the Salken-tai, and, through the valley between Urkashar and Dzhair, and then along the valley of the Kul’ between Barlyk and Maili, emerged at the Dzungarian Gates. Unfortunately, his report on this part of the second journey, so far as I know, did not appear in print, and its only result, apparently, is the route survey of the country traversed, entered on the general map of the second and third journeys at a scale of 50 versts to the inch¹. Although the depiction of Semistai, Urkashar, Barlyk, and Dzhair on this map is, of course, better than on older maps, it nevertheless abounds in gross inaccuracies.

In 1890 the Tibetan Expedition of Pevtsov, returning to the confines of Russia, passed along the valley of the Manas lakes, along the southern foot of Dzhair, visited the lakes of the river Damt, crossed Kara-arat, the western end of Kara-serke and Semistai by the Orylgun-da-ban pass, whence it proceeded through the Kobu valley to the village of Matenia. These localities are described by Pevtsov in considerable detail, and the route survey, judging by the representation of the expedition’s path on the 40-verst map (of the southern border belt of Asiatic Russia), corrected many errors of the former maps, although it does not yet everywhere correspond to reality².

At the end of 1895 the expedition of V. I. Roborovskii, returning from Inner Asia, passed along the valley of the Kobuk River from the lower reaches of this river through the Semistai range and farther to the village of Matenia; unfortunately, its report gives little information about this locality, especially about Semistai³.

In 1900 Dzhair was visited by K. A. Kulibin, who inspected the gold mines of the Russo-Chinese Company, as noted above; this engineer’s report gives the first geological data on Dzhair, just as the report of the geologist of the Tibetan Expedition, K. I. Bogdanovich, had given the first geological information on Semistai⁴; but neither the one nor the other can be called abundant.

Thus all previous investigations concern Semistai and, to a lesser extent, Dzhair, whereas Kodzhur and Urkashar, being nearest to the Russian frontier, remained entirely unstudied.

Cartographic materials for the locality described are only a little less abundant than the geographical and geological ones. The most recent detailed surveys of the frontier districts, made by the Turkestan and Omsk military-topographic departments, enter the limits of Dzungaria only in places and not far. For the spaces a few versts beyond the Russian border we have only the route surveys of the expeditions listed above and, in addition, a map of the Barlyk Mountains with the adjoining valleys, compiled in 1886 by the topographers Zakrzhevsky and Bogdanov at a scale of 10 versts to the inch; besides Barlyk, this map also covers parts of the Maili and Dzhair mountains and the western end of Urkashar (the Dzhildy-kara Mountains), but it is not distinguished by accuracy. The hydrographic network of both slopes of Kodzhur and of part of northern Urkashar is shown on the 10-verst map of the Omsk Military District fairly tolerably. But outside the areas of all these surveys, almost everything depicted on the 40-verst map of the southern frontier belt of Asiatic Russia may be called almost sheer fantasy!

Meanwhile, good maps of these localities, adjoining the Russian border and including the best and shortest route from Western Siberia deep into China, with its important trading point—the town of Chuguchak—will be extremely necessary in the event of military complications, and their compilation ought to be undertaken in good time. Should not the lessons of Manchuria be of benefit to the Russian military-topographic service?

In concluding my preliminary report, I consider it a pleasant duty to offer my sincere gratitude to the Russian consul in Chuguchak, Sergei Vasilievich Sokov, for the broad assistance and hospitality rendered to my expedition in 1906, and also to the secretary of the consulate, B. V. Dolbezhev, who kindly undertook the labor of barometric observations in the town of Chuguchak, which gave me a reference point for calculating my hypsometric data.

20 October 1906
Tomsk.

V. A. Obruchev.

APPENDIX.

List of elevations determined during the expedition of 1906 in Chinese Dzungaria¹.

IV. Heights between the Urkashar Range and the Barlyk Range.

V. Valley between the Urkashar–Semistai Range on the north and the Dzhair–Kara-arat Range on the south.

VI. The Dzhair and Kara-arat Ranges

VII. Valley of the Manas Lakes and the Lower Course of the Djam River

Overview Map of the Mountains of Dzhair, Urkashar, Kodjür, and Semistai in Chinese Dzungaria

Based on the surveys of M. A. Ussov, member of the 1906 expedition, personal observations, and Russian maps, compiled by Prof. W. A. Obrutschew.

Scale: 1:1,000,000

Kilometers

Legend

— Author’s route
- - - Other more important routes
- - - Boundary of the granites
● Poplars, willows, tamarisks, scrub
▧ Fields, meadowland (often marshy or saline)

D St. = Station
X O. = Obo (road marker)
R. = Ruins
L. = Buddhist monastery
F. = Chinese homestead
Pik. = Picket

GOTHA: JUSTUS PERTHES, 1908.

C. Schmidt.

1. The elevation is evidently 30–40 m too great in comparison with the elevation of No. 106, which lies upstream. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

2. The figures in parentheses indicate the number of observations at the given point (each by one, two, or three aneroids). ↩↩↩

3. V. I. Roborovskii. Proceedings of the Expedition of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in Central Asia. Part 1, St. Petersburg, 1900, pp. 594–597. ↩↩

4. K. I. Bogdanovich. Proceedings of the Tibetan Expedition, Part II, St. Petersburg, 1892, p. 86. ↩