This forest is very rich in unexploited timber, but much of it is covered by impassable swamp, of which the "vasyugan" area is typical, and extensive communication is only possible along the natural waterways. In the southern part of this forest area there is a certain amount of cultivation along the banks of the rivers, and rye crops can be profitably grown. South of this forest zone, between latitudes 55 and 57, comes the black earth zone, or so-called "lyeso-steppe." This zone, where the forest gradually merges into the steppe, is the most favourable for agricultural colonization, and it is here that the emigration from European Russia is rapidly extending. South of this zone and below latitude 55 come the dry steppes, inhabited largely by nomad Kirghiz Tartars with large herds of live stock. The country here borders on the province of Akmolinsk and the great Kirghiz steppes, which merge imperceptibly into Turkestan.
This great plain of Western Siberia terminates in the foothills of the Altai uplift, and here, between the altitudes of 500 and 1400 feet, and between the latitudes of 51 and 54, there is another area of black earth belt, which is probably the richest in all Siberia and possibly in the world. Here also at 8000 feet a large area of Alpine meadow is found, providing rich summer grazing for the nomad Altai Tartars, who inhabit these plateaus in a state of semi-Russification.
The administrative provinces of Western Siberia are four in number. The Tobolsk Government lies in the north-west, just east of the Urals and in the low plains of the Obi and Irtish. South of this come the governorships of Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk, comprising the dry steppe areas of the Upper Irtish
