50 Mr. N. A. Severtzow on the 



characteristic birds^ whicli do not breed on Bash-Alai and 

 the Pamir. 



The Pamir can be called a plateau only because its valleys 

 are of great altitude; they reach a height of 14^500 feet, and 

 are nowhere lower than 12,000 feet. The average height of 

 the Pamir mountains is from 15,000 to 17,000 feet ; and they 

 do not rise very high above the valleys. These valleys bear 

 a steppe-like character ; but none of them reach the width 

 of twenty versts, like the continuous steppe of Bash-Alai. 

 The main Pamir valleys have a breadth of from one to five 

 miles ; and the steppes which border the Pamir lakes are not 

 broader. The secondary valleys are open, and not mere gorges; 

 their breadth is from 150 sajen (about 1000 feet) to a mile or 

 a mile and a half. At least four fifths of all the surface of 

 tho Pamir is not covered with high steppes, but with steep 

 rocky mountains, the highest of which reaches 20,000 feet. 

 On the north rises the Trans-Alai range ; and on the western 

 side tower the snowy mountains west of Kara-kul and Jeschil- 

 kul. On the east there are two groups of snowy peaks east- 

 ward of Lake Ran-kul, of which the southern, Mustagh-ata, 

 attains the height of 25,000 feet. It is the highest point of the 

 Pamir range, of which the interior mountains are much lower 

 than those situated on the outside. But on the frontier the 

 high snowy mountains do not form uninterrupted chains, but 

 alternate wdth lower peaks : even the most compact chain, 

 the Trans-Alai range, presents the relatively very low depres- 

 sion of the Kysil-art pass. 



On the northern slopes of the Pamir mountains perpetual 

 snow begins at 15,000 feet ; the southern slopes are free from 

 snow in summer to the height of 18,500 feet. The valleys 

 through which run the rivers that descend from the interior 

 of the higher Pamir retain their steppe-like character down 

 to about 12,000 feet, when the rivers enter into narrow 

 gorges. The height of the Pamir valleys ranges from 11,000 

 to 13,500 fc-et. 



The flora of the Pamir is principally formed of a striking 

 mixture of grasses peculiar to steppes with the more varied 

 grasses of higher ranges; the latter mingle also with the 



