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The Continental A rea 



295 



area which is as large as South America, and is occupied by 

 the highest and most extensive plateaux in the world. The 

 southern front of the whole system is the triple chain of the 

 Himalaya, sweeping in a noble curve south-eastward from the 

 Pamir, rising from the plain in stately slopes and ridges, 

 and crowned by innumerable snowy summits, amongst them 



FIG. 62. Section across Asia on the meridian of 90 E. Vertical 

 scale 300 times the horizontal. Sea-level marked O. 



Mount Everest (29,000 feet), the culminating point of the 

 Earth's surface. It is cleft by no passes less than 15,000 

 feet above the sea. The Karakorum, a short but very 

 lofty range (its chief summit, Dapsang, is 28,700 feet above 

 the sea), runs parallel to the Himalaya from the Pamir. 

 Thence also the long and lofty range known as the Kuen 

 Lun stretches east, and sends off the Altyn Tagh and 

 Nan-shan range in a north-easterly curve. Between the 

 Himalaya and the Kuen Lun extends the high plateau of 

 Tibet, 13,000 feet above the sea, and measuring 2000 

 miles from east to west, and 1700 miles from south to 

 north. The plateau slopes downward to the east, and 

 the mountains and valleys which ridge its surface converge 

 into a series of close parallel ranges at the Indo-China 

 knotting point. Thence some ranges diverge southward into 

 the peninsula, some descend eastward toward the plain, and 

 some sweep north-eastward to the Okhotsk knotting point 

 as the Khingan Chain. Most of the Tibet high plateau is 

 free from snow in summer owing to the extreme dryness of 

 the air, and is a region of internal drainage. The great 



