Volcanoes of Central Asia. 229 



tude of its course from east to west is between 50° and 51° Q(y. 

 We shall soon have satisfactory notions respecting the geogra- 

 phy of the north-eastern part of this system, between the Baikal, 

 Yakutsk, and Okotsk, for which the world will be indebted to 

 Dr Erdmann, who has recently traversed those parts. The 

 Altai, properly so called, scarcely occupies seven degrees of 

 longitude ; but we give to the northernmost portion of the 

 mountains encompassing the vast mass of high land of Inner 

 Asia, and occupying the space comprised between the 48th and 

 51st parallels, the name of the System of the Altai, because simple 

 names are more easily impressed upon the memory, and because 

 that of Altai is best known to Europeans, from the great metal- 

 lic wealth of these mountains, which now annually yield 70,000 

 marks of silver and 1900 marks of gold *. The Altai', in Turkish, 

 in Mongol, Altai-in-oola, ' gold mountain," is not a chain of 

 mountains, forming the limit of a country, like the Himalaya, 

 which bounds the table-land of Tibet, and which consequently 

 lowers itself abruptly only on the side of India, which is lower 

 than the other country. The plains adjoining lake Zaisang, and 

 especially the steppes near lake Balkashi, are certainly not more 

 than aOO toises (1968 English feet) above the level of the sea. 



I avoid, intentionally, in this paper, conformably to the 

 statements I collected on the spot, employing the term Lesser 

 Altai, if this term is applied to the vast mass of mountains si- 

 tuated between the course of the Narym, lake Teletsky, the 

 Bia, Serpent Mountain, and the Irtish above Oustkamenogorsk, 

 consequently the territory of Russian Siberia, between the 79th 

 and 86th meridians east of Paris, and between the parallels of 

 49° 30' and 52° 30'. This Little Altai is probably, owing to 

 its extent and elevation, much more considerable than the 

 Great Altai, whose position and existence as a chain of snowy 

 mountains are, perhaps, equally problematical. Arrowsmith, 

 and several modern geographers, who have followed the model 

 he has arbitrarily adopted, give the name of Great Altai to an 

 imaginary continuation of the Teen-shan, which is carried to 

 the eastward of Khamil (Harai) and Barkoul (Chin-se-foo), a 

 Manchoo town, and runs to the north-east, towards the eastern 



* A mark is equal to 4608 grains. 



