Note 7 — Chapter VIII · THE OBI.

There are two books written by scientific explorers of the basin of the Obi, which it may be useful to mention for the sake of any who wish to study this part of Siberia. One is that of Adolph Erman, who, for the purpose of making magnetical observations, travelled in 1828 to Tobolsk, and then descended the river as far as Obdorsk; the second is the German work of Dr. Otto Finsch, who, from Tiumen, ascended the Irtish, in 1876, towards the Altai mountains, and then, turning north to Barnaul and Tomsk, followed the Obi to its mouth. Another class of books, written for the most part by returned exiles, throws more or less light upon Western Siberia, such as “The Exile of Kotzebue,” published in 1802, and “Revelations of Siberia,” by a banished lady, who spent a short time on the Lower Obi at Beresov.