XX SUMMARY. STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



bution of heat in the upper strata of the air, the table-land of western 

 Thibet would be uninhabitable to millions of human beings — pp. 63-80. 

 The Hiong-nu, whom Deguignes and John Miiller considered to be 

 a tribe of Huns, appear rather to be one of the widely spread Turkish 

 races of the Altai and Tangnu mountains. The Huns, whose name was 

 known even to Dionysius Periegetes, and who are described by Ptolemy 

 as Chung (hence the later territorial name of Chunigard !) are a Finnish 

 tribe, from the Ural mountains, which separate the two continents — 

 pp. 80-81. 



Representations of the sun, animals, and characters, graven on rocks 

 at Sierra Parime, as well as in North America, have frequently been 

 regarded as writing — p. 82. 



Description of the cold mountain regions between 11,000 and 13,000 

 Parisian, or 11,720 and 13,850 English feet in height, which have been 

 designated Paramos. Character of their vegetation — p. 83. 



Orographic remarks on the two mountain clusters (Pacaraima and 

 Sierra de Chiquitos) which separate the three plains of the lower Ori- 

 noco, tha Amazon, and La Plata rivers from each other — p. 84. 



Concerning the Dogs of the New Continent, the aboriginal as well 

 as those from Europe, which have become wild. Sufferings of Cats- at 

 heights surpassing 13,854 feet — pp. 85-88. 



The Low Land of the Sahara and its relations to the Atlas range, 

 according to the latest reports of Daumas, Carette, and Eenou. The 

 barometric measurements of Fournel render it very probable, that 

 part of the north African desert lies below the level of the sea. 

 Oasis of Biscara. Abundance of rock-salt in regions which extend 

 from S.W. to N.E. Causes of nocturnal cold in the desert, according to 

 Melloni — pp. 88-92. Information respecting the River Wadi Dra (one- 

 sixth longer than the Rhine), which is dry during a great part of the 

 year. Some account of the territory of the Sheikh Beirouk, who is 

 independent of the Emperor of Morocco, according to manuscript 

 communications of Capt. Count Bouet Yillaumez, of the French Marine. 

 The mountains north of Cape Nun (an Edrisian name, in which by a 

 play of words a negation has been assumed since the loth century) 

 attain an altitude of 9186 feet — pp. 92-94. 



Gramineous vegetation of the American Llanos between the tropics, 

 compared with the herbaceous vegetation of the Steppes in Northern 

 Asia. In these, especially in the most fertile of them, a pleasing effect 

 is afforded in spring by the small snow-white and red flowering Rosaceae, 

 Amygdaleae, the species of Astragalus, Crown-imperial, Cypripedias, and 

 Tulips. Contrast with the desert of the salt-steppes full of Chenopodiae, 

 and of species of Salsola and Atriplex. Numerical considerations with 

 respect to the predominant families. The plains which skirt the Frozen 

 Ocean (north of what Admiral Wrangel has described as the boundary 

 of Coniferse and Amantacese), are the domain of cryptogamic plants. 

 Physiognomy of the Tundra on an ever-frozen soil, covered with a 

 thick coating of Sphagnum and other foliaceous mosses, or with the 

 snow-white Cenomyce and Stereocaulon paschale — pp. 94-96. 



