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AUTIIORITIES
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AUTIIORITIES .—See N. M. Przhevalsky, See also:Mongolia, the Tangut See also:Country, &c. (Eng. trans., ed. by See also:Sir H. See also:Yule, See also:London, 1876), and From See also:Kulja across the Tian Shan to Lob Nor (Eng. trans. by Delmar See also:Morgan, London, 1879) ; G. N. Potanin, Tangutsko-Tibetskaya Okraina Kitaya i Centralnaya Mongoliya, 1884-1886 (1893, &c.); M. V. Pjevtsov, See also:Sketch of a See also:Journey to Mongolia (in See also:Russian, See also:Omsk, the See also:sand-See also:dunes See also:cross over to the See also:left See also:bank of the Hwang-ho, and are threaded by the beds of dry watercourses, while the level spaces amongst them are studded with little mounds (3 to 6 ft. high), on which grow stunted Nitraria Scoberi and Zygophyllum. Ordos, which was anciently known as Ho-nan (" the country See also:south of the See also:river ") and still farther back in See also:time as Ho-tau, was occupied by the Hiong-nu in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., but was almost de-populated during and after the Dungan revolt of 1869. See also:North of the big See also:loop of the Hwang-ho Ordos is separated from the central See also:Gobi by a See also:succession of See also:mountain chains, the Kara-naryn-ula, the Sheitenula, and the In-shan Mountains, which See also:link on to the south end of the See also:Great See also:Khingan Mountains. The In-shan Mountains, which stretch from 108° tc 112° E., have a See also:wild Alpine See also:character and are distinguished from other mountains in the S.E. of Mongolia by an abundance of both See also:water and vegetation. In one of their constituent ranges, the bold Munni-ula, 70 m. See also:long and nearly 20 m. wide, they attain elevations of 7500 to 8500 ft., and have steep flanks, slashed with rugged See also:gorges and narrow glens. Forests begin on them at 5300 ft. and wild See also:flowers grow in great profusion and variety in summer, though with a striking lack of brilliancy in colouring. In this same border range there is also a much greater abundance and variety of See also:animal See also:life, especially amongst the avifauna. Eastern Gobi.—Here the See also:surface is extremely diversified, although there are no great See also:differences in See also:vertical See also:elevation. Between See also:Urga (48°N. and 107°E.) and the little See also:lake of Iren-dubasu-nor (111 °5o' E. and 43° 45' N.) the surface is greatly eroded, and consists of broad See also:flat depressions and basins separated by See also:groups of flat-topped mountains of relatively See also:low elevation (50o to boo ft.), through which archaic rocks See also:crop out as crags and isolated rugged masses. The floors of the depressions See also:lie mostly between 2900 and 3200 ft. above See also:sea-level. Farther south, between Iren-du'basu-nor and the Hwang-ho comes a region of broad tablelands alternating with flat plains, the latter ranging at altitudes of 3300 to 3600 ft. and the former at 3500 to 4000 ft. The slopes of the plateaus are more or less steep, and are sometimes penetrated by " bays " of the low-lands. As the border-range of the Khingan is approached the country steadily rises up to 4500 ft. and then to 5350 ft. Here small lakes frequently fill the depressions, though the water in them is generally See also:salt or'brackish. And both here, and for 200 M. south of Urga, streams are frequent, and grassgro.wsmoreorlessabundantly. There is, however, through all the central parts, until the bordering mountains are reached, an utter See also:absence of trees and shrubs. See also:Clay and sand are the predominant formations, the watercourses, especially in the north, being frequently excavated 6 to 8 ft. deep, and in many places in the flat, dry valleys or depressions farther south beds of See also:loess, 15 to 20 ft. thick, are exposed. See also:West of the route from Urga to See also:Kalgan the country presents approximately the same See also:general features, except that the mountains are not so irregularly scattered in groups but have more strongly defined strikes, mostly E. to W., W.N.W. to E.S.E., and W.S.W. to E.N.E. The altitudes too are higher, those of the lowlands ranging from 3300 to 5600 ft., and those of the ranges from 650 to 165o ft. higher, though in a few cases they reach altitudes of 8000 ft. above sea-level. The elevations do not, however, as a See also:rule See also:form continuous chains, but make up a congeries of See also:short ridges and groups rising from a See also:common See also:base and intersected by a See also:labyrinth of ravines, gullies, glens and basins. But the tablelands, built up of the See also:horizontal red deposits of the Han-See also:hai (Obruchev's Gobi formation) which are characteristic of the See also:southern parts of eastern Mongolia, are absent here or occur only in one locality, near the Shara-muren river, and are then greatly intersected by gullies or dry watercourses.' Here there is, however, a great dearth of water, no streams, no lakes, no See also:wells, arid precipitation falls but seldom. The prevailing winds See also:blow from the W. and N.W. and the See also:pall of dust overhangs the country as in the Taklamakan and the See also:desert of Lop. Characteristic of the See also:flora are wild See also:garlic, Kalidium gracile, See also:wormwood, saxaul, Nitraria Scoberi, Caragana, Eph'dra, saltwort and dirisun (Lasiagrostis splendens). This great desert country of Gobi is crossed by several See also:trade routes, some of which have been in use for thousands of years. Among the most important are those from Kalgan on the frontier of See also:China to Urga (boo m.), from Su-chow (in Kan-suh) to See also:Hami (420 m.) from Hami to See also:Peking (1300 m.), from Kwei-hwa-See also:cheng (or Kuku-khoto) to Hami and Barkul, and from Lanchow (in Kan-suh) to Hami. See also:Climate —The climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, combined with rapid changes of temperature, not only at all seasons of the See also:year but even within 24 See also:hours (as much as 58°F.). For instance, at Urga (3770 ft.) the See also:annual mean is 27.5°F., the See also:January mean -15.7°, and the See also:July mean 63.5° the extremes being 100.5° and -44.5 while at Sivantse (3905 ft.) the annual mean is 37° the January mean 2.3°, and the July mean 66.3°, the range being from a recorded maximum of 93° to a recorded minimum of -53°. Even in southern Mongolia the thermometer goes down as low as -27°, and in See also:Ala-shan it rises See also:day after day in July as high as 99°. Although the south-See also:east monsoons reach the S.E. parts of the Gobi, the See also:air generally throughout this region is characterized by extreme dryness, especially during the See also:winter. Hence the icy sandstorms and See also:snow-storms of See also:spring and See also:early summer. The rainfall at Urga for the year amounts to only 9.7 in. r Obruchev. in Izvestia of Russ. Geogr. See also:Soc. (1895). x In Tangutsko-Tibetskaya Okraina Kitaya i Centralnaya 1l~Pngoliya, i. pp. 96, &c. ' See Sand-buried Cities of See also:Khotan (London, 1902). 1883); G. E. Grum-Grzhimailo, Opisanie Puteshestviya v Sapadniy Kitai (1898-1899) ; V. A. Obruchev, Centralnaya Asiya, Severniy Kitai i Nan-schan, 1892-1894 (1900-1901); V. I. Roborovsky and P. K. See also:Kozlov, Trudy Ekspeditsiy See also:Imp. Russ. Geog. Obshchestva Po Centralnoy Asiy, 1893-1895 (1900, &e.); Roborovsky, Trudy Tibetskoi Ekspeditsiy, 1889-189o; Sven Hedin, Scientific Results o a Journey in Central See also:Asia, 1899-1902 (6 vols., 1905-1907) ; Mutterer, Durch Asien (1901, &c.); K. Bogdanovich, Geologacheskiya Isledovaniya v Vostochnom Turkestane and Trudiy Tibetskoy Ekspeditsiy, 1889-189o; L. von Loczy, See also:Die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse der Reise See also:des Grafen See also:Szechenyi in Ostasien, 1877-1880 (1883); See also:Ney See also:Elias, in Journ. See also:Roy. Geog. Soc. (1873) ; C. W. 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