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KUENEN, ABRAHAM (1828-1891)
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See also:KUENEN, See also:ABRAHAM (1828-1891) , Dutch See also:Protestant theologian, the son of an See also:apothecary, was See also:born on the 16th of See also:September 1828, at See also:Haarlem, See also:North See also: See also:Weber and C. T. See also: His collected See also:works were translated into German and published by K. Budde in 18L4. Several of his works have been translated into See also:English by See also: In the tectonic structure of Asia the Kuen-lun forms, as it were, the backbone of the See also:continent. In point of See also:age it is very much older than either the Himalayas to the S. or the Tian-shan to the N. But although the crests of its component ranges reach altitudes of 21,500 to 22,000 ft., they are not as a See also:rule overtopped by individual peaks of commanding and towering See also:elevation, as the Himalayas are, but run on the whole tolerably See also:uniform and relatively at little greater See also:altitude than the lofty valleys which See also:separate them one from another. It is a strikingly marked characteristic of the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau that its outermost border-range (e.g. Western Kuen-lun and Astin-tagh) is throughout See also:double; and this " twinning " of the mountain-ranges, as also of the intermont See also:lake-basins among the Kuen-lun ranges, is a See also:peculiar feature of the Tibetan plateau. The supreme orographic importance of this great Central Asian mountain system was recognized in a See also:fashion even by the geographers of See also:ancient See also:Greece. They used to suppose that an immense range of mountains crossed Asia from See also:west to See also:east on the parallel of the See also:island of See also:Rhodes, extending through Asia See also:Minor, the Kurdish high-lands, the N. of See also:Persia, the N. of Ractria (See also:Afghanistan), the Hindukush, and so on into China. This long range they supposed to separate the See also:waters which flow N. to the See also:Arctic from those which flow S. to the See also:Indian Ocean. K. See also:Ritter (Asien, ii.) was the first of modern geographers to recognize the true See also:character of the Kuen-lun as a border range of the Tibetan plateau ; and See also:Baron von See also:Richthofen (China, i. 1876) still further defined and accentuated the conception of the system by representing it as a complex arrangement of several parallel ranges, See also:running in wavy lines from the Pamirs (76° E.) eastwards to 118° E. But though von Richthofen's See also:general conception of the Kuen-lun system was broadly See also:sound and in accordance with facts, the details both of his description and of that of his See also:pupil Wegener' require now very considerable revision, and need even to be in part recast, as a consequence of explorations and investigations made since they wrote by, amongst others, the See also:Russian explorers N. M. Przhevalsky, M. V. Pyevtsov, V. I. Roborovsky, P. K. See also:Kozlov, K. Bogdanovich, V. A. Obruchev, and (?) Skassi; by the Englishmen A. D. See also:Carey, A. Dalgleish, St G. R. Littledale, H. See also:Bower, H. H. P. Deasy and M. S. Wellby; by the See also:American W. W. Rockhill; the Frenchmen J. L. Dutreuil de Rhins, F. Grenard, P. G. Bonvalot and See also:Prince See also:Henri d'See also: Although they all decrease in altitude from west to east, they nevertheless reach elevations of 19,000 ft., with individual peaks ascending some 2000-2500 ft. higher. From the East Turkestan lowlands on the north the ascent is very steep, and the passes across both sets of ranges lie at great altitudes; for example, the pass of Sanju-davan in the lower range is 10,325 ft. above sea-level, and the Kyzyl-davan, farther east, is 16,900 ft., while the Sughetdavan in the higher range is 17,825 ft. The latter range is separated from the See also:Karakorum Mountains by the deeply trenched See also:gorge of the Raskem or Yarkand-darya, while the deep glen of the Kara-kash or Khotan-darya intervenes between the upper (Sughet Mountains) and the lower (Kilian Mountains) border-ranges. Altogether this western extremity of the Kuen-lun system is a very rugged mountainous region, a consequence partly of the intricacy of the flanking ranges and spurs, partly of the powerful lateral compression to which they have been subjected, and partly of the great and abrupt See also:differences in See also:vertical elevation between the crests of the ranges and the bottoms of the deep, narrow, rugged glens between them. In the broad orographical disposition of the ranges there is considerable similarity between north See also:Tibet and west Persia, in that in both cases the ranges are crowded together in the west, but spread out wider as they advance towards the east. To the two principal ranges in this part of the system F. Grenard, who accompanied J. L. Dutreuil de Rhins on his See also:journey in 1890-1895, gives the names the Altyn-tagh and Ustun-tagh, though he names no less than six parallel ranges altogether. Now as Altyn-tagh2 is an accepted, though in point of fact erroneous, name for Astin-tagh, it is clear that Grenard considers the main Kuen-lun ranges to be continued directly by the Astin-tagh. From the transverse breach of the Keriya-darya (about 812° E.) to that of the Kara-muren in the longitude of Cherchen (about 851° E.) the parallel border-ranges of the Tibetan plateau trend to the E.N.E., and here occur in the lower or See also:outer range the passes of Dalai-kurghan-See also:art (14,290 ft.), Choka-davan, i.e. Littledale'sChokur Pass (9530 ft.) and others at altitudes ranging from 8600 to ' In " Orographie des Kwen-lun," in Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft See also:fur Erdkunde zu See also:Berlin (1891). 2 It is used, for instance, on the See also:map of " Inner-Asien " (No. 62) of Stieler's See also:Hand-See also:atlas (ed. 1905) and in the Atlas of the Russian General See also:Staff. Etymologically the correct See also:form is Astin-tagh or Astun-tagh, meaning the Lower or Nearer Mountains. Ustun-tagh,which appears on Stieler's map as an alternative name for Altyn-tagh, means Higher or Farther Mountains, and though not used locally of any specific range, would be appropriately employed to designate the higher and more southerly of the twin border-ranges of the Tibetan plateau. 11,500 ft., while in the upper range are the At-to-davan (16,600 ft.), Yapkak-lik-davan (15,550 ft.), Sarshu-davan (15,68o ft.) and others not named at 16,590 and 17,300 ft. See also:Middle Kuen-dun.—Between the upper transverse glens of the Karamuren (or Mitt See also:River) and the Cherchen-darya stretches the See also:short range of Tokuz-davan. From it, on the east See also:side of the See also:Cher chendaryt, in about 86° E., the component ranges of the middle Kuen-lun begin to diverge and radiate outwards (i.e. to north and to See also:south) like the fingers of the outspread human hand. And here at least four principal ranges or See also:groups of ranges admit of being discriminated, namely the Astin-tagh, the Chimen-tagh, the Kalta-alaghan and the Arka-tagh, all belonging to the mountainous See also:country which See also:borders on the north the actual plateau region of Tibet. Although these several ranges, or systems of ranges, differ considerably in their orographical characteristics, the following description will apply generally to the entire region from the Astin-tagh southwards to the See also:Arica-tagh. The broad features of the See also:surface configuration are a series of nearly parallel mountain-ranges, running from W.S.W. E.N.E. to W.N.W. E.S.E., and separated by high intermont valleys, which are choked with disintegrated material and divided into a chequered See also:pattern of self-contained, shallow lacustrine basins. As a rule the crests of the ranges are worn down by aerial denudation and have the general See also:appearance of rounded domes. Hard See also:rock (mostly See also:granite and crystalline See also:schists, with red See also:sandstone in places) appears only in the transverse glens, which are often choked with their debris in the form either of See also:gravel-and-See also:shingle or loose blocks of See also: The wild See also:camel approaches the north outliers of the Astin-tagh, but rarely, if ever, ventures to enter their fastnesses. Bears, wolves, foxes, goats (kokmet), wild See also:sheep (arkharis), lizards, earth-rats, and a small rodent (teslcikan), with ravens, eagles, wild ducks and wild geese are the other varieties principally encountered. The vegetation consists almost entirely of scrubby bushes of several varieties, including tamarisks and wild briers, of reeds (kamish), and of grass on the yaylaks (pasture-grounds) of the middle ranges. On the Arka-tagh even the See also:moss, the last surviving representative of the See also:flora, disappears entirely. In the eastern Astin-tagh a variety of wild See also:tea (chuy, mountain tea) is used by the See also:Mongols. See also:Gold is obtained in very small quantities in a few places in the Astin-tagh and the Kalta-alaghan. The nomenclature of the numerous ranges in this part of the Kuen-lun is extremely confusing, owing to different travellers having applied the same name to different ranges and to different travellers have applied different names to what is probably often identically the same range. In this article the nomenclature adopted is that employed by the latest, and probably the most thorough, explorer of this part of Central Asia, namely, Sven Hedin. Nevertheless, owing to the fact that nearly all the longer and more important crossings of Tibet and its northern montane region have been made from north to south, or See also:vice versa, that is, transversely across the ranges, and comparatively few from east to west along the intermont latitudinal valleys, the identifications between ranges in the east and ranges in the west are in more than one instance more or less doubtful. The Astin-tagh, although it occupies a similar position to the twin ranges of the Western Kuen-lun, in that it forms the outermost escarpment or border-ridge on the north 6f the Tibetan plateau,would appear in the See also:opinion of the most competent See also:judges (e.g. Grenard, Bogdanovich, Sven Hedin, Przhevalsky), to be only a See also:branch or subsidiary range of the main range of the Kuen-lun. It is not however a single, long, continuous See also:chain, as it is shown, for example, on the map of the Russian general staff, but consists of two parallel main ranges, and in the east of three, and even to the N.E. of Tsaidam of four, parallel main ranges, flanked throughout by several subsidiary chains, spurs and offshoots. Beyond that it swells out into the vast See also:massif of Anambaruin-ula, which is traversed by at least three minor parallel chains. But on the east of the Anambaruin-ula it once more Contracts to two main ranges, the more southerly being that which Przhevalsky called the See also:Humboldt Range (crossed by a pass at 13,200 ft.). This branch is probably continued in the range which overhangs the Koko-nor on the south, namely, the south Koko-nor Range. The northern branch merges eastwards into the Nanshan or Southern Mountains.' The passes in the Lower Astin-tagh range from altitudes of 10,150 to 10,700 ft., and in the Upper Astintagh at 11,770 to 15,68o ft. (Tash-davan), though one pass beside the Charkhlik-su is only 966o ft. high. And as the relative altitudes of See also:crest and pass remain approximately, the same as in the Western Kuen-lun, it is evident how greatly the general elevation of the twin border ridge decreases towards the east. But there exists a striking difference between the crests of the Astin-tagh and those of the ranges which give rise to the gigantic ridge and furrow arrangement on the Tibetan plateau. " Here in the Astin-tagh the mountains, like those in the Kuruk-tagh,2 are indeed severely weathered, but they always consist, from See also:base to See also:summit, of hard rock, See also:bare and barren, most frequently piled up in See also:eccentric, rugged masses, denticulated, pinnacled crests and peaks. On the Tibetan plateau, on the other hand, most of the ranges are distinguished by their rounded outlines and soft consistency, and their striking poverty in hard rock, which in the best cases only crops out near the summits. There too disintegration has been to a remarkable extent operative. This gives rise to the great morphological difference, that in the former regions, the Astin-tagh and the Kuruk-tagh, the products of disintegration are almost always carried away by the See also:wind, and so disappear; no See also:matter how powerful or how active the disintegration may be, none of the loosened material ever succeeds either in gathering amongst the mountains or in accumulating at their foot. The See also:climate is so arid, and precipitation so extremely rare, that the See also:fine powdery material falls a helpless See also:prey to the winds. On the other hand, the precipitation on the Tibetan plateau is so copious, and so uniformly distributed, that it is able to retain the loosened material in situ, and causes it to heap itself up in rounded masses on the flanks of the mountains that are its See also:primitive source of origin, these projecting in great part like skeletons from the midst of their own ruins." 3 The twin ranges of the Astin-tagh are fairly See also:equivalent in point of magnitude and regularity; but while the Lower Range, on the north, sensibly decreases in altitude towards the east,the Upper Range, on the south, maintains its general altitude in a remark-able way, and is gapped by steep, wild, deeply incised transverse glens directed towards the north, and generally fenced in by dark precipitous walls of rock. The great valley between the two is cut up into a series of self-contained basins, each serving as the gathering ground of the See also:brooks that run down off the adjacent mountains. Outside the lower end of each large transverse glen there is a scree of sedimentary matter. These screes are however very See also:flat and their lower edges generally reach all the way down to the central part of the basin, which is occupied by an expanse of yellow See also:clay, perfectly flat and fairly hard, as well as dry and barren, often cracked into polygonal cakes and See also:drawn out in the direction of the long See also:axis of the valley. . . . But though the great morphological features of this latitudinal valley forcibly recall the latitudinal valleys of Tibet, the See also:climatic differences give rise to differences between the basins corresponding to the differences between the mountain-ranges themselves. For while the self-contained basins of Tibet generally possess a See also:salt lake in the middle, into which brooks and streams of greater or less magnitude gather, often from very considerable distances, these self-contained basins of the Astintagh are very small in See also:area, and it is extremely seldom that their central parts receive any See also:water at all, only in fact after copious See also:rain. These terminal lakes, or more accurately sedimentary plains, are therefore almost always dry." 4 The next parallel range on the south, the Akato-tagh, and the valley which separates it from the Astin-tagh, are equally arid and water-less. The valley, known by the general name of Kakir, meaning a " hard, dry, sterile expanse of clay," is chequered with shallow self-contained basins of the usual type and has remarkably gentle slopes ' The Northern Mountains are the Pe-shan in the desert of Gobi (see GOBI). 2 On the opposite or north side of the desert of Lop (desert of Gobi). 3 Sven Hedin, Scientific Results, iii. 308. 4 Ibid. 310-311. up to the mountains on both north and south. Its surface slopes from altitudes of to, too to 10,600 ft. in the west, where is the lake of Uzunshor (9650 ft.) to 9400 ft. in the east, in which direction it continues as far as the Anambaruin-ula (see below) and the See also:plain or flat basin of Sartang, a north See also:extension of Tsaidam. This range of Akato-tagh, the Altun Range of Carey, is the same as that which on the map of the Russian general staff bears the name Chimen-tagh. Like the Astin-tagh it stretches towards the E.N.E., and, like it, appears to be built up of granite and schists, but its crest is greatly denuded, so that it is a See also:mere crumbling See also:skeleton protruding above the deep See also:mantle of disintegrated material which masks its flanks. The slopes on both north and south are extremely gentle, but that on the south is eight to ten times as long as that on the north. In the east the range is mostly narrow, and See also:dies away on the edge of the Tsaidam depression; but in the west it swells out into the lofty and imposing See also:mass of the Ilve-chimen or Shia-manglay, which is capped with perpetual snow. This part of the range is crossed by the pass of Chopur-alik at an altitude of 16,16o ft., but farther east the passes lie at altitudes of 13,380 to 10,520 ft. The latitudinal valley that intervenes between the Akato-tagh and the next great range on the south, the Chimen-tagh, slopes for the most part eastwards, from 12,500 ft. down to the shallow salt lake of Ghaz-kol or Chimen-koli (9305 ft.). In the western part of this valley occurs the very important transverse water-See also:divide of Gulcha-davan (14,150 ft.), which separates the basin of the Cherchen-darya that goes down into the Tarim basin from the area that drains down to the Ghaz-kol, which belongs to the Tsaidam depression. This, the Chimen valley, contains in places a See also:good See also:deal of See also:drift-See also:sand, which however is stationary in the mass and heaped up along the northern foot of the Chimen-tagh. Nevertheless the Akato-tagh is only of secondary importance in the general Kuen-lun system, being nothing more than a central ridge running along the broad Kakir valley that separates the Astin-tagh from the Chimentagh. The latter range, the Chimen-tagh, is identical in its western parts with the Piazlik-tagh and in the east must be equated with the Tsai-See also:dam chain of Przhevalsky; and it is probably continued westwards by the range which the Russian explorers See also:call the See also:Moscow Range or the Achik-tagh, running north of the Achik-kol and, according to Przhevalsky, connecting on the west with the Tokuz-davan. The Chimen-tagh rises into imposing summits, some rounded, some pyramidal in outline, which are capped with snow, though the snow melts in summer. This range acts as a " See also:breakwater " to the clouds, arresting and condensing the moisture which is carried north-wards by the south winds. Hence its slopes are not so arid as those of the Akato-tagh and the Astin-tagh. Snow falls all the year See also:round on the Chimen-tagh, even in See also:July, and water is abundant everywhere. The southern slope of the range is gentle but short, the northern slope long and steep. Grass is able to grow, and See also:animal life is more abundant. The range is crossed by passes at 13,970, 13,230 and 13,760 ft., and the Piazlik-tagh by a pass at an altitude of 13,640 ft. The next important range, still going south, is the Kalta-alaghan, Carey's Chimen-tagh Range, Przhevalsky's See also:Columbus Range and the range which is variously designated (e.g. by Pyevtsov) as the Anibal-ashkan, Kalga-lagan and Ara-tagh. This last is, however, properly the name of a short secondary range which rises along the middle (ara = middle) of the valley between the Chimen-tagh and the Kalta-alaghan. Not only is it of lower elevation than them both, but it dies away towards the west, the valleys on each side of it See also:meeting round its extremity to form one broad, open valley, with an altitude of 11,790 to 13,725 ft. The Ara-tagh is crossed by a pass at an altitude of 14,345 ft. In the Kalta-alaghan, which is the culminating range of this part of the Kuen-lun, and is over-topped by towering, snow-clad peaks, the passes climb to consider-ably higher altitudes, namely, 14,560, 14,470, 14,430 and 14,190 ft., while the pass of Avraz-davan ascends to 15,700 ft. This range appears to be linked on to the Tokuz-davan by the Muzluk-tagh, in which there are passes at 16,870 and 15,450 ft. It is possible however that the Muzluk-tagh belongs more intimately to the Chimen-tagh system, that is, to the Moscow or Achik-kol ranges. Indeed Bogdanovich considers that the Tokuz-davan, the Muzluktagh, the Moscow Range and the Chimen-tagh form one single closely connected chain, in vehich he also places Przhevalsky's isolated See also:peak of See also:Mount Kreml (15,055 ft.). Sven Hedin, whilst agreeing that this may possibly be the true conception, inclines to the view that the Achik-kol Range dies away towards the E., and that the Chimen-tagh and the Kalta-alaghan See also:merge westwards into the border-ranges that lie north of the Muzluk-tagh and the Tokuzdavan. Unlike most of the other parallel ranges of N. Tibet, the Kalta-alaghan does not decrease, but it increases in elevation towards the east, where, like the Chimen-tagh, it abuts upon and merges in the ranges that border Tsaidam on the south. Immediately south of the Kalta-alaghan comes a relatively deep depression, the Kunt-kol valley, forming a very well-marked feature in the See also:physical conformation of this region. It is crossed transversely by a water-divide which separates the basin of the twin-lakes of Kum-kol (12,700 ft.) from the basin of Tsaidam, some 350o ft. lower. The See also:floor of the valley consequently slopes away in both directions, like the Chimen valley between the Akato-tagh and the Chimen-tagh; and in so far as it slopes westwards towards the Kum-kol lakes it differs from nearly all the other great latitudinal valleys that run parallel with it, because they slope generally towards the east. Not far from the Kuni-kol lakes there is a drift-sand area, though the See also:dunes are stationary. The upper lake of Kum-kol (Chon-kumkol) (12,730 ft.), which contains fresh water, is of small area (8 sq. m.) and in See also:depth nowhere exceeds 13 ft.; but the lower lake (Ayak-kumkol) (12,685 ft.), which is salt, is much bigger (283 sq. m.) and goes down to depths of 64 and 79 ft. Farther west, lying between the Muzluk-tagh and the Arka-tagh, is the lake of Achik-kol (13,940 ft.), 161 m. broad and 50 M. in See also:circuit. The next great parallel range is the lofty and imposing Arka-tagh, the Przhevalsky Range of the Russian geographers, which has its eastward continuations in the Marco See also:Polo Range (general altitude 15,750–16,250 ft.) and Gurbu-naiji Mountains of Przhevalsky. The Arka-taghi is the true backbone of the Kuen-lun system, and in Central Asia is exceeded in elevation only by the Tang-la, a long way farther south, this last being probably an eastern wing of the Karakorum Mountains of the Pamirs region. At the same See also:time the Arkatagh is the actual border-range of the Tibetan plateau properly so-called; to the south of it none of the long succession of lofty parallel ranges which ridge the Tibetan highlands seems to have any connexion with the Kuen-lun system. Of great length, the Arka-tagh, which is a mountain-system rather than a range, varies greatly in configuration in different parts, sometimes exhibiting a sharply defined main crest, with several lower flanking ranges, and sometimes consisting of numerous parallel crests of nearly uniform altitude. Amongst these it is possible to distinguish in the middle of the system four predominant ranges, of which the second from the north is probably the principal range, though the See also:fourth is the highest. The passes across the first range (north) lie at altitudes of 15,675, 16,420, 17,320 and 18,300 ft.; across the second at 16,830, 17,020, 17,070 and 17,220 ft.; across the third at 16,800, 16,660, 17,065, 17,830 and 17,88o ft.,; and across the fourth at 16,540, 16,765, 16,780, 18,too and 18,110 ft. The crests of the ranges lie comparatively little higher than the valleys which separate them, the altitudes in the latter running at 14,940 to 16,700 ft., if not higher, and being only l00 to t000 ft. lower than the crests of the accompanying ranges. he Arka-tagh ranges do not culminate in lofty jagged, pinnacled peaks, but in broad rounded, flattened domes, a characteristic feature of the system throughout. These Arka-tagh mountains are built up, at all events superficially, of sand and powdery, finely sifted disintegrated material. Where the hard rock does See also:crop out on the surface, it is so excessively weathered as to be with difficulty recognized as rock at all. The culminating summits of the ranges generally See also:present the appearance of a flat, rounded swelling, and when they are crowned with glaciers, as many of them are, these shape themselves into what may be described as a mantle, a See also:breast-See also:plate, or a flat cap, from which lappets and fringes project at intervals; nowhere do there exist any of the long, narrow, winding See also:glacier See also:tongues which are so characteristic of the See also:Alps of See also:Europe. But not the slightest indication has been discovered that these mountains were ever panoplied with See also:ice. The See also:process of disintegration and levelling down has reached such an advanced See also:stage that, if ever there did exist evidences of former glaciation, they have now become entirely obliterated, even to the See also:complete pulverization of the erratic blocks, supposing there were any. The view that meets the See also:eye southwards from the heights of the Kalta-alaghan is the picture of a See also:chaos of mountain chains, ridges, crests, peaks, spurs, detached masses, in fact, montane conformations of every possible description and in every possible arrangement. Immediately north of the Arkatagh the country is studded with three or four exceptionally conspicuous and imposing detached mountain masses, all capped with snow and some of them carrying small glaciers. Amongst them are Sliapka Monomakha or the See also: 2 The form Tumenlik-tagh is erroneous. individually the biggest; whereas the Upper Astin-tagh exceeds the Lower Astin-tagh by an altitude of some 1350 ft., it is itself exceeded by the Akato-tagh to the extent of 176o ft. There is also a considerable rise of 88o ft. from the Akato-tagh to the Chimen-tagh. But between the Chimen-tagh, the Ara-tagh and the Kalta-alaghan there is comparatively little difference in point of elevation, namely, 730 ft. in all. The biggest ascent is that from the Kalta-alaghan to the Arka-tagh, namely, nearly 185o ft. The ranges of the Arkatagh, again, run at See also:pretty nearly the same See also:absolute general altitudes, namely, 16,470 to 17,260 ft. When the altitudes of the intermont latitudinal valleys are compared, the significance orographically of the Chimen valley and of the Kum-kol valley is strikingly emphasized. Both are much more deeply excavated than all the other latitudinal valleys that run parallel to them, the Chimen valley being 875 ft. above the valley to the north of it, but no less than 2235 ft. below the valley to the south of it. The See also:case of the Kum-kol valley is altogether exceptional, for it lies not higher, but 68o ft. lower, than the valley to the north of it, and consequently the climb up out of it to the first (on north) of the Arka-tagh valleys amounts to no lessthan 2900 ft. Hence these ten parallel ranges of the middle Kuen-lun system may be grouped in three divisions-(1) the more strictly border ranges of the Upper and Lower Astin-tagh and the Akatotagh; (2) the three ranges of Chimen-tagh, Ara-tagh and Kaltaalaghan, which may be considered as forming a transitional system between the foregoing and the third See also:division; (3) the Arka-tagh, which constitute the elevated rampart of the Tibetan plateau proper. (J. T. BE.) The Nan-shorn Highlands overlook Tsaidam on the N.E. They embrace a region 38o m. long and 26o m. wide, entirely occupied with parallel mountain ranges all running from the N.W. to the S.E. Broad, flat, See also:longitudinal valleys, at altitudes of 12,000 to 14,000 ft. (9000 to 10,000 at the south-western border) and dotted with lakes (Koko-nor, 9970 ft.; Khara-nor, 13,285 ft.), fill up the space between these mountain ranges. In the S.E. the Nan-shan highlands abut upon the highlands of the See also:Chinese See also:province of Kansuh, and near the great northward See also:bend of the Hwang-ho they meet the escarpments by which the Great See also:Khingan and,the In-shan ranges are continued, and by which the Mongolian plateau steps down to the lowlands of China. On the N.E. the Nan-shan high-lands have their foot on the Mongolian plateau (See also:average altitude, 4000 ft.), i.e. in the See also:Ala-shan. On the N.W. they are fringed by a border range, the Da-See also:sue-shan, a .continuation of the Astin-tagh, which rises to 12,200–13,000 ft. in its passes, and is pierced by several rivers flowing west to Lake Khala-chi or Khara-nor. This border-range, which continues on to the 97th meridian, separates the Nan-shan range from the Pe-shan range. On the S.W. the Nan-shan mountains consist of short irregular chains, separated by broad plains, dotted with lakes, which differ but slightly in altitude from Tsaidam (8800-g000 ft.). Next a succession of narrow ranges intervene between this lower border See also:terrace and the higher terrace (12,000–13,500 ft.). The first mountain range on this higher terrace is Ritter's range, covered in part with extensive snow-See also:fields. The passes at both ends of this snow-clad massif lie at altitudes of 15,990 ft. and 14,68o ft. The next range is Humboldt or Ama-surgu range, which runs N.W. to S.E. from the Astin-tagh to about 38° N., and is perhaps continued by the southern Kuku (Koko)-nor range, which strikes the Hwang-ho with an elevation of 7440 ft. It includes, in fact, several other parallel ranges—e.g. the Mushketov, Semenov, See also:Suess, See also: Good pasture grounds are only found near thestreams. The See also:soil is dry gravel and clay, upon which bushes of Ephedra, Nitraria and Salsolaceae grow sparsely. In the north-eastern Nan-shan, on the contrary, a stream runs through each gorge, and both the mountain slopes and the bottoms of the valleys are covered with vegetation. Forests of conifers (Picea obovata) and See also:deciduous trees—Przhevalsky's See also:poplar, See also:birch, mountain ash, &c., and a variety of bushes—are See also:common everywhere. Higher up, in the picturesque See also:gorges, grow rhododendrons, willows, See also:Potentilla fruticosa, Spriaeae, Lonicereae, &c., and the rains must evidently be more copious and better distributed. In the central Nan-shan it is only the north-eastern slopes that See also:bear forests. In the south, where the Nan-shan enters Kan-suh province, extensive accumulations of See also:loess make their appearance, and it is only the northern slopes of the hills that are clothed with trees. (P. A. K.) AuTI1ox1TIEs.—An enumeration of the works published before 189o, and a map of itineraries, will be found in Wegener's Versuch einer Orographie des Kuen-lun (See also:Marburg, 1891), but his map is only approximately correct. Of the books published since .1890 the most important are Sven Hedin's Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899–1902 (See also:Stockholm, 1905–1907, 6 vols.), with an elaborate atlas and a general map of Tibet on the See also:scale of I : 1,000,000; H. H. P. Deasy's In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan (See also:London, 1901), with a good map; F. Grenard's vol. (iii.) of J. L. Dutreuil de Rhins's See also:Mission scientifique clans la haute Asie, 1890–2895 (n.p., 1897), also with a very useful map; W. W. Rockhill's See also:Diary of a Journey through See also:Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892 (See also:Washington, 1894) ; M. S. Wellby's Through Unknown Tibet (London, 1898) ; P. G. Bonvalot's De See also:Paris au Tonkin a 'ravers le Tibet inconnu (Paris, 1892) ; St G. R. Littledale's " A Journey across Tibet," in Geog. See also:Journal (May 1896) ; H. Bower's Diary of a Journey across Tibet (London, 1894) ; the Izvestia of the Russian Geog. See also:Soc. and Geog. Journal, both passim. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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