Mongolia, Kan-su, Koko-nor, and Northern Tibet, we travelled 11,100 versts (7,400 miles), 5,300 (3,530 miles) of which, i.e. the whole distance out, were sketched by means of the compass. This map, which is appended on the reduced scale of 40 versts (or about 26⅔ miles) to the inch,[1] has been based on 18 astronomical observations for latitude, which I determined by means of a small universal instrument.[2]
The magnetic declination was ascertained at nine places, and at seven the horizontal influence of the earth's magnetism. Four times a week we took meteorological observations, frequently noting the temperature of the earth and water, and the moisture of the atmosphere with the psychrometer. We determined the altitudes with the aneroid and boiling water. Our researches were chiefly directed to physical geography and the special study of mammalia and birds; we made ethnological observations whenever circumstances would permit. We also collected and brought home 1,000 specimens of birds belonging to 238 different genera, 130 skins of mammalia, large and small, comprising 42 kinds; about 70 specimens of reptiles; 11 descriptions of fish; and more than 3,000 specimens of insects.
Our botanical collection includes the flora of all
- ↑ Reduced again, in the English version accompanying this translation, to a scale of slightly more than one-half that amount per inch.
- ↑ The longitude of these points, which unfortunately could not be determined, was found approximately by projecting my route survey between the latitudes fixed, and by taking into account the declination of the needle.
