14 Mammals of Eastern Asia 
Mountains, passes around the northern tip of the Hsing-an 
(Khingan) Mountains, then southeast among the Manchurian 
portions of the coastal system, where it is joined by the Sungari 
and the Ussuri Rivers, and again turning north, finds its way 
through the coastal mountains to the sea at the northern end 
of the Gulf of Tatary (separating the Island of Sakhalin from 
the Siberian coast). The smaller Liao-ho River that enters the 
Pechili Gulf below Mukden, originates in the southern part of 
the Hsing-an (Khingan) Mountains. 
South of Inner Mongolia and the Sinkiang Desert the land 
surface abruptly rises to the Altyn Tagh and Nan Shan Ranges 
on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, the latter a high 
plain averaging 12,000 feet above sea-level, carrying on its sur- 
face many large mountain ranges and extending southward for 
almost 1000 miles to the Himalaya Mountains. In the far west, 
Tibet is connected with the mountains of Afghanistan, the 
Pamir and the Tien Shan, though only incompletely with the 
Altai, for the Tarim and Sinkiang depressions form an exten- 
sive low gap between the Tibetan region and the Altai Moun- 
tains. The eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, peaks of which 
rise to 20,000 feet, becomes greatly dissected by huge, nearly 
parallel valleys running east, southeast, and south, through 
which flow great rivers, such as the Salween of Burma, the 
Mekong of Indo-China, the Yangtse (Long River) of China. 
From the northern part of its eastern margin, the plateau 
sends forth a long mountain finger, the Ch'in-ling (Tsing-ling) 
Range, which, gradually dwindling from 10,000 or 12,000 
feet to mere hills north of Nanking, serves as the southern 
boundary of the Yellow River or Hwang-ho. 
The Hwang-ho or Yellow River, rising in the northeastern 
part of the Tibetan Plateau, swings north, east, and south 
again around the Ordos Desert. The southern arm of this loop 
is contained on the east by spurs of the Hsing-an (Khingan) 
Mountains until the river reaches the Ch'in-ling (Tsing-ling) 
