T1EN-SHAN, according to Russian explorers, is a great alpine region, extending far to the south of Lake Issyk Kul, and forming with the Pamir and the Himalayas the mountain centre of the whole Asiatic continent. The axis of this Tien Shan alpine region is apparently from N.E. to S.W., the elevation gradually rising to the S. and E., and sinking on the side of Kashgar much more rapidly. Lake Issyk Kul is 5300 feet above the sea-level ; Lake Son Kul, 9430 feet ; and the Tchatyr Kul, 11,210 feet. The main ranges run from N.E. to S.W., but are cut by other smaller ones running from N.W. to S.E. The centre is not the highest ; the highest part-of the whole region is the plateau or range of Ak-Shiiraik. There are many peaks between 14,000 and 20,000 feet high. Khantengri, S.E. of the E. extremity of Issyk Kul, is estirnated at over 24,000 feet.
The Tien-Shan or Celestial Mountains separate the Tarim from the Issyk Kul and Ili basins south and north, and stretch thence eastwards to about 120 miles east of Haini (Khamil), in long.
95° E. At this point the Tien-Shan consists of a single wedge, but expands westwards, and in the extreme west ramifies into several distinct branches, which spread out like a fan far into the Turkestan lowlands. Of these branches, the south-westerninost are the Alai and Trans-Alai, which stretch in pamllel lines for 200 miles along the northern edge of the Pamir down to the Turkestan plains.
North of Khokand (Farghana), the most im portant western branch of the Tien-Shan are the Alexander mountains, 15,000 feet from the closed basin of Lake lssyk Kul.—E. Schuykr, Turkestan, ii. pp. 132, 133 ; P. Arminius Trambery of Bokhara, p. 13.