MOUNTAINS.
The continent of Asia is crossed by a great desert, extending from the Caspian almost to the gates of Pekin and the Yellow Sea. To the south of this wilderness lies a region divided into northern and southern parts by the great chain of the I limalaya and the lofty Nanling mountains, which run from its western extremity to the shores of the Pacific, opposite the island of Formosa. To the north of this mountain wall are Tibet and China, separated by the Yunling mountains ; to the south of the same barrier are the plains of Hindustan and the valleys of the Indo-Chinese countries, these two geographical areas being separated by the hills of Arakan. Beyond the Trans-Gangetic Peninsula there is a third region, the Malay Archipelago. Tibet is a vast expanse of plains, hills, and valleys, rising from a table land of 15,000 feet in elevation. Its lowest ele vation seems to be at its south-eastern corner, where it joins the Indo-Chinese countries, and whence they expand in long mountain ranges, which spread out like the ribs of a fan as they approach the Pacific, • The Altai Mountains divide the Chinese and Russian empires. This series is connected with tho Himala-Tibetan mountains by the Pamir on the west and the Yunling-Irshan chains on the cast. The whole forms a mountain girdle enclosing Central Asia or Mongolia and Tibet.
The mountain mass of Asia sinks to the west ward of Afghanistan, rising again only in isolated peaks ; and hence the Himalaya is rather ideally than really connected with the mountains south of the Caspian ; and so with the Caucasian Alps on the one hand, and those of Asia Minor on the other. The Afghan mountains form a meridional chain from the western extremity of the Himalaya, descending parallel to the Indus, with a gradually decreasing elevation from above 15,000 feet, to the level of the ocean, at the Arabian Sea. The Ava and Malayan mountain chain is given off from the snow-clad mountains of East Tibet, and is continued uninterruptedly almost to the equator. The Vindhya chain crosses the Penin sula from the Gulf of Cambay to the Ganges. The Aravalli mountains extend from Hansi and Dehli to Gujerat. In the Peninsula of British India the Sahyadri or Western Ghats extend from the Tapti river to Cape Comorin. This peninsular chain forms a continuous watershed throughout its length of upwards of 900 miles, scarcely deviating from a straight line, which is parallel and close to the west coast of the Peninsula, and perpendicular to the direction of the monsoon.
This chain divides the Peninsula of India un equally into two portions, marked by different climates, — a narrow western one, including Malabar, Travancore, and the Konian ; and a broad eastern one, traversed by several great rivers, and including the Carnatic, Mysore, and the Dekhan.
Between India and Tartary, the broad mountain range has the Himalaya forming the southern crest," and the Rouen Lun the northern. The interior has some lovely valleys, among which Kashmir is pre-eminent, but it is more usually broken into rocky ravines, through which the Indus, Ganges, and their affluents force their way towards the plains ; or else stretches away in those vast treeless uplands which are one of the chief characteristics of the range through its whole extent. The ascent from Yarkand mid Kashgar, westward to the table-land of Pamir, is almost imperceptible ; and when that lofty position is gained, where the average elevation is probably as much as 15,000 feet above the sea, a lofty plateau stretches across the head-streams of the Oxus to the top of the Chitral valley. This plateau may be 700 or 800 miles in extent. It is varied by lakes, and from it descend great river systems. The Naryn and Syr (Jaxartes) belong to the Altai mountains. Only the Oxus and the Tarim come from Pamir. The Naryn, which is the main stream of the Jaxartes, runs through a long, luxuriant valley, between the culminating ridge and outer range of the Tian Shan, and drains all the northern range of the plateau. The Oxus, rising in the Sir-i-Kul or Yellow Lake of Pamir, at least 300 miles to the south of the Jaxartes, receives from its right bank a multitude of small streams, which run to the south through rugged valleys, on the western face of the Pamir uplands. The western face of Pamir between the Jaxartes and the Oxus is far more precipitous than the eastern. Ridges run out as far as Samareand and Karshi, and the streams from the upland which twine amongst these ridges form the Zar-afshan and Karshi part of the water system of the Oxus, though before they reach that river they are entirely consumed in irrigation.