TOPOGRAPHY OF HIGH ASIA. 279 



point, — the so-called Roof of the World, — where the northwest-southeast 

 direction of the Indian ranges ceases, and the Himalaya may be said to termi- 

 nate. Here commences an extensive group of elevations, forming the west- 

 ern edge of the great Central Asiatic mass, and extending as far north as the 

 forty-fifth parallel, the dominant direction of the ranges being a little north 

 of east and south of west. Southwest of the Pamir Plateau, ranges having 

 the same direction, and being in fiict part of the same s^^stem, are grouped 

 under the name of the Hindu-Kush ; to the north they are embraced under 

 the collective name of Thian-Schan, or Celestial Mountains. These lie 

 chiefly between the fortieth and forty-fifth parallels, and extend over more 

 than thirty degrees of longitude (from 65° to beyond 95"). On the northeast 

 of the Thian-Schan the Djungarian Basin forms a pretty marked line of 

 separation between that group of ranges and another one with a southeast- 

 northwest trend, known as the Altai, and forming an important part of the 

 northern edge of High Asia. 



Beyond the Altai, stretching to the northeast and becoming more and 

 more nearly parallel with the coast of the Pacific, is avast labyrinth of moun- 

 tains — the Jablonovoi and Stanovoi ranges — occupying the space between 

 the Amur and the Lena, and extending even beyond, far towards the north- 

 eastern extremity of Siberia. 



While the Himalaya, the Thian-Schan, and the Altai may be considered 

 as being pretty well known, a large portion of the vast area enclosed within 

 these exterior ranges has as yet been but little explored. Its main feature 

 may be said to be a stupendous chain of mountains which, beginning at the 

 nodal point of the Pamir, extends eastward for about 2,000 miles, and is 

 known as the Kuen-Luen. This range, the importance of which as a topo- 

 graphical feature of Central Asia was first indicated by Humboldt, and since 

 demonstrated by Richthofen,* begins at the west in a single mass, and gradu- 

 ally acquires complexity, by the development of parallel members, forming 

 in fact, as Richthofen considers, the real backbone of the eastern half of the 

 continent. 



The rano-e of the Kuen-Luen has on its southern side, enclosed between 

 it and the Himalayan chain, the high Tibetan table-land, the Highland of 

 Khor, the most elevated plateau region of the world — a closed basin, with 

 many salt lakes, cold, dry. and desolate. To the north of the Kuen-Luen. 

 between that chain and the Thian-Schan, is the Tarym closed basin region, 



* China, Vol. I. pp. 223 - 272. 



