Between Semipalatinsk and Omsk the river follows a north-westerly direction, over unbroken plain. Not a hill, let alone a mountain, in sight. For long stretches one had more the impression of being in a bay than on a river. Sometimes one could not even see the other bank. The following figures, from measurements taken for the Tomsk communication area many years ago, may give one an idea of the mighty dimensions of the Irtish. At a point situated 147 kilometers below Semipalatinsk the river had, on June 2nd 1902, a mean rate of flow of 1.05 meters per second, a breadth of 452 meters, a mean depth of 3.4 meters and a volume of 1585 meters per second. But only eleven days later, at Torochinsky, 337 kilometers below Semipalatinsk, the river was carrying 2670 cubic meters per second and had a mean depth of 6.2 meters and a mean rate of flow of 1.10 meters per second.
In Omsk, where we arrived after six days' journey on the river, during which we had covered about 1300 kilometers, we had time to look over the town before the trans-Siberian express left for Moscow.
On June 2nd, after twenty-eight days of travel, we arrived in Berlin, where I said goodbye to the German members of the expedition who had accompanied me on the homeward journey. They were now to return to their private lives again, and it was not without emotion that I took leave of them, with warm thanks for their eighteen months of faithful service in Asia. For my own part I continued home to Stockholm, where I arrived safely on June 5th. Here I had to set about the task of raising new funds for the continued activities of those members of the expedition who were still working to advance the frontiers of science in the heart of Asia.
IIIFカラー高解像度
