Tartary was a vast, cold country in the northern parts of Asia, bounded by Siberia on the north and west. A vast tract of land in northern and central Asia, it stretched from the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains to the west, all the way to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It was inhabited mostly by Mongol peoples.

"Guided by a slight clue," Victor tracks the monster from Geneva along the windings of the Rhone southward to the Mediterranean. He spots the monster hiding in a ship and follows him to the Black Sea, through the wilds of Tartary and Russia. Ultimately, he travels northward into the ice.