The Konen Len mountain chain, as seen from Sumgal in Turkestan, is in lat. 36° 8' N., and long. 78° 5' E., and 13,215 feet above the sea. The Konen Lun is the northern crest of the great range which bounds the high table-land of Tibet. This range has been supposed by some writers to be the true watershed between India and Central Asia, the Mums Ussu or Yang - tze absorbing all the streams which flow from the southern slopes of the range, while the northern rivers which form the • Kara Kush force their way through or round the outer barrier of the Konen Lun, and wend northward to the Gobi or Sandy Desert. The Konen Lun is unknown between Khoten and Chardam. In the Konen Lun, all passes above 15,000 feet are closed in winter by the heavy snowfall.
The most westerly of the passes belongs to the Karakorum mountains ; it is called in Balti the pass of the Mustagh, and lies at the source of the right branch of the Shigar river, a stream which joins the Indus opposite the town of Iskardo. The road over this pass to Yarkand was frequented by merchants, but for many years was disused, the reason assigned being the danger of plunder by the hordes of robbers. As described by persons who have crossed it, the snow is reached after ten days' journey from Iskardo, and con tinues during three marches.
The second pass, also over Karakorum, is at the head of a considerable tributary which joins the Shayuk river opposite Khapalu. The enormous glacier over which this road runs was described by Vigne. Dr. Thomson did not, while in Tibet, meet with any one who had crossed it, and he was assured by the inhabitants of Nubra that they were not acquainted with any road from the upper part of their valley, either towards Khapaln or towards Yarkand.
The third pass, and the only one now frequented, is also over the Karakorum, an extremely easy though very elevated one. It is by this pass that Eastern Turkestan communicates with Tibet and India.
The most easterly pass of which there is any notice, occurs on the road between Ruduk and Khoten. It was visited by Mr. Johnson, and a native explorer traversed another route farther east.
The Tian Shan, or Celestial Mountain chain, has three characteristic divisions, from the meridian of Kucha, long. 82° 48' E., to i s intersection with the Bolor. To the east, from the transverse course of the Aksu to Kucha, the Celestial Mountains rise in a towering ridge, covered with perpetual snows, which feed enormous glaciers, and are therefore called the Muzart or Icy Mountains.
There is only one pass through the Muzart moun tains, which is called by the Chinese the pass of Glaciers,' and by Humboldt Djeparle. Through this pass there is a road leading from Kuldja, in let. 45° 54' N., and long. 80° 58' E., to Aksu.
Baler Mouutains.—The mountains of Balti extend for 300 miles, from the sources of the Gilgit and Yasin rivers, from,long. 73° to 77° E., the source of the Nubra river. The Bolor 11101111 tains are called Altai by the Andijans. They aro precipitous and inaccessible on their western face, and form on the east a high, cold plateau, visited only in the summer by the Kirghiz. There is only one caravan road over the Bolor, which passes through Badakhshan. The road through Badakh shan to Yarkand leads to Khulm, thence to Bokhara, Balkh, and Kabul ; caravans requiring sixty-five days to reach Bokhara, by this route.
The Pamir is intersected by roads well trodden by the Kirghiz, all of which lead to the khanate of Kokan, or to Karatagin.
Eastern Turkestan is enclosed by mountains on three sides : by the Tian Shan on the northern, the Pamir on the western, and Kouen Lun on the southern. These mountains belong to the highest ranges of Central Asia, and form the natural limits of the western portion of the Chinese empire. The actual boundary, however, runs along the line of pickets stretching through the outlying lower ranges on the Chinese side ; beyond this frontier the territory is occupied by roaming Kirghiz. To the eastward, Eastern Turkestan is bounded by the uninhabited sandy deserts of the Makhai and Hami Gobi. It occupies conse quently a plain between lat. 36° and 43° N., and long. 70° and 30° E. from the meridian of Paris. Eastern Turkestan occupies the centre of the table-land of Eastern Asia.
Continental India.—Its divisions are four,—Hindustan, in the widest sense of that term, including the whole Western Peninsula and the Gangetic plain to the base of the Himalaya ; 2. The Himalaya, which rises abruptly from the Gangetic plain, and is connected with the mountain mass of Tibet to the north, and beyond India ; 3. India ultra Ganges, including British Burma, the kingdoms of Burma and Siam, Cambodia, Annam, the French acquisitions, and the Malayan Peninsula ; 4. Afghanistan. These divisions are marked out by great mountain barriers and by the ocean.