Vulcanoes of' Central Aaia. 2S7 



Tibet and Ladak, between the group of mountains of Kookoo- 

 noor and Eastern Tibet, and the country called Kachi. 



This system of mountains commence westward of the Tsung- 

 ling (" Onion or Blue Mountains'"), upon which M. Abel 

 Remusat has diffused so much light in his learned History of 

 Khoten. This system connects itself, as already observed, with 

 the transverse chain of Bolor ; and according to the Chinese 

 books, forms the southern portion of it. This quarter of the globe, 

 between Little Tibet and Badakshan, abounding in rubies, 

 lazulite, and turquoise, is very little known ; and, according to 

 I'ecent accounts, the table-land of Khorasan, which runs to- 

 wards Herat, and bounds the Hindu-Kho or Hindu-Coosh to 

 the north, appears to be a continuation of the system of the 

 Kwan-lun to the west, rather than a prolongation of the Hima- 

 laya, as commonly supposed. From the Tsung-ling, the Kwan- 

 Itin or Koolkun runs from west to east, towards the sources of 

 the HwangJio (Yellow River), and penetrates, with its snowy 

 peaks into the Chinese province of Shen-se. Nearly in the 

 meridian of these sources, rises the great cluster of mountains of 

 lake Kookoo-noor, a cluster which supports itself, on the north, 

 against the snowy chain of the Nan-shan, or Ki-lian-shan, ex- 

 tending also from west to east. Between the Nan-shan and the 

 Teen-shan, on the side of Hami, the mountains of Tangout 

 bound the edge of the high desert of Gobi or Shamo, which 

 stretches from south-west to north-east. The latitude of the 

 middle portion of the Kwan-lun is about 35° 30'. 



IV. System of the Himalaya. — This separates the valleys of 

 Cashraer (Serinagur) and Nepal from Butan and Tibet ; to the 

 west, it stretches by Jevahir, to 4026 toises (26,420 feet) ; to 

 the east, by Dhavalaghiri, to 4390 (28,809 feet) of actual 

 height above the level of the sea : it runs generally in a direc- 

 tion from NW. to SE., and consequently is not parallel with 

 the Kwan-lun ; it approaches it so nearly, in the meridian of 

 Attock and JcUalabad, that between Cabul, Cashmer, Ladak, 

 and Badakshan, the Himalaya seems to form only a single mass 

 of mountains with the Hindu-Kho and the Tsung-ling. In 

 like manner, the space between the Himalaya and the Kwan- 

 lun is more shut up with secondary chains and isola-tcd masses 



