673 



ASIA. 



ASIA. 



671 



The eastern highland of Asia is divided from the western, or more 

 accurately the table-land of western Tibet from that of eastern Iran, 

 between the meridians of Balkh and Cabul, by a tract pf a peculiar 

 nature. The eastern highland, much larger in extent and of higher 

 elevation, presents more rigid forms, and has the figure of an irregular 

 trapezium ; the western has that of a rectangle extending towards the 

 north-west, and is in every respect of a milder character. The moun- 

 tain-knot formed at the common junction of the several mountain 

 ranges, which the companions of Alexander called the Indian Caucasus, 

 and which now bsars the name of Hindu-Koosh, is an extensive alpine 

 region, or rather a mountain-isthmus, extending between the lowlands 

 of Bucharia and of India, and uniting both highlands in the direction 

 east and west, not unlike the isthmus of Panama, which connects the 

 mountain region of North America with the Southern Andes. 



To this peculiarity in the formation of this part of Asia we must 

 add another, namely, the parallelism observable in the direction of 

 the mountain ranges which form the southern border of the highlands, 

 or in other words their southern slopes. They extend in a diagonal 

 lip on from east-south-east to west-north-west. The Himalaya range, 

 forms the slope of the table-land of Tibet and extends from 

 tli-' * .If of Tonkin to Cabul, a distance of nearly 2800 miles, is paral- 

 lel to the Taurus range, which bordering the table-land of Iran on 

 the south extends from the mouths of the Indus to the western 

 extremity of the Taurus in Lycia in Asia Minor, and is nearly of equal 

 length. 



The southern chain of the Taurus system is also parallel to the 

 mountain range which bounds the highland of Iran on the north, and 

 which considered as a continuation of the mountain region of the 

 Hindu-Koosh is traced to the Demavend and Elburz near the southern 

 shores of the Caspian Sea, and thence through Azejbijan and Armenia, 

 though its surface exhibits great varieties in this part, till it termi- 

 nates with Olympus and the heights of Ida on the shores of the Dar- 

 danelles, presenting towards the Black Sea rapid slopes. This northern 

 chain of the Taurus system is nearly equal in length to the southern, 

 extending upwards of 2500 miles. The Caucasus itself, which extends 

 about 680 miles on the isthmus which separates the Caspian from the 

 Black Sea, though it is some distance farther to the north, has nearly 

 the same general direction. 



But this parallelism so remarkable in the western highland is not 

 observed in the eastern. Here too indeed some of the mountain 

 ranges traversing the table-lands run in the direction of west and east ; 

 but this is not the case with the principal chains, the Kuen-lucn 

 (35 30' N. lat), the Thian-shan (42 N. lat.), and the Altai Mountains, 

 farther to the north. In these mountain ranges a decided divergency 

 is observable. The distance between them widens as they proceed 

 eastward till the most southern of their members, formed by the 

 mountains of India beyond the Ganges, terminates on the peninsula 

 of Malacca, opposite the Sunda Islands ; and the most northern, the 

 Bai'kalean and Da-urian range, traversing the countries on the gulf of 

 Okhotzk and the peninsula of the Tchuktches, approaches the most 

 northern shores of North America. 



This diversity in the formation of the surface of Eastern and Western 

 Asia has had corresponding effects on the civilisation of their inhabit- 

 ants. The divergency of the mountain ranges in the eastern regions 

 placed the nations inhabiting them at greater distances ; whilst the 

 conviTgcncy in the centre and in the western region produced a nearer 

 approximation and more easy communication. But after all, the 

 great features of its formation which determine its capabilities of 

 influencing organic nature and the history of men, exhibit a marked 

 direction east and west. 



To form a complete picture of the varieties in the formation of the 

 surface of Asia, we must add to these mountain ranges extending in a 

 diagonal direction others which meet them nearly at right angles. 

 Such are the Bolor or Belor-Tagh, which is ascended in passing from 

 the deep steppes of Bokhara eastward to the high table land of Turkis- 

 tan, and the towns of Kashghar and Yarkand ; and the Sulimau range, 

 on the eastern border of Iran, which must be traversed in passing from 

 the lowlands of India to the table-land of Persia. By these mountain 

 chains the most characteristic features in the formation of Asia are 



We have remarked that the two great systems of high table-land 

 are connected by an alpine region extending between the far-advancing 

 angles of two lowlands that of India from the south, and that of 

 Bokhara from the north which seem to tend to meet one another, but 

 are interrupted by the high fmmmits of the mountain region. Such a 

 juxtn-poxition of all the great features which nature exhibits on the 

 surface of the globe on such a colossal scale and in so limited a space, 

 makes this one of the most remarkable spots on the face of our planet. 

 This maximum of the contrasts of natural features, placed in the centra 

 of the continent, is the principal characteristic which distinguishes 

 Asia. By drawing a circle with a radius of a few hundred miles round 

 this common centre, we comprehend in it the countries of Cashmere, 

 Sogdiana, and C;.l>iil ; the ancient empires of Bactria, Delhi, and 

 Samarcand ; the wild table lands of Tibet, of Khntan, and of Kashghar, 

 up to the ancient Seres and Paropaminada) ; the most elevated snow- 

 toppi'd summit .,n the globe, the richest and most diversified alpine 

 us and valleys, the sources of the greatest imd, in an historical 

 point of view, of the most remarkable rivers of central Asia ; the Pan- 



jab of the Indians on the south, the famous Mawar-al-nahr on tho 

 north, and the richest plains in these lowlands ; we have Persia on 

 the west, India on the east, Bokhara, Turkistan, and Tibet on the 

 north. It is the centre of Asia fixed by nature ; one of the great 

 physical influences which prompted man to progress and to civilisation 

 in the early ages of his history. How numerous and powerful must 

 be the inducements to change in a country where the climates of the 

 polar region come nearly in contact with those of tropical countries 

 intermingled with the temperate zone ; and where this diversity of 

 climate is found within a space so limited, and yet diversified by 

 hundreds of different slopes, terraces, and valleys, which partly watered 

 by rivers and torrents and partly entirely without running water are 

 placed near one another, but often rise to such different levels above 

 the sea ! What an influence must such a country exercise on organic 

 nature, and on the civilisation and history of man ; and how powerful 

 must this influence have been through all the generations that tho 

 human race has existed ! 



To these two great and characteristic features, namely, the splitting 

 of the south-eastern part of the continent into peninsulas and innu- 

 merable islands, and the great contrasts exhibited in the formation of 

 the surface in the centre, we must add a third, which belongs to western 

 Asia. This characteristic feature is partly its external form, and partly 

 its geographical position in the centre of the aiicient world, to which wo 

 may add the influence which it has exercised on the progressive civilisa- 

 tion of the inhabitants of the whole globe. As Asia is hero connected 

 with Europe and Africa, the three great divisions of the globe are thus 

 brought into contact, and the intercourse thus established between 

 the different nations inhabiting them is still more facilitated by the 

 great maritime roads which nature has placed in this centre of the 

 ancient world the Gulfs of Arabia and Persia, the Caspian Sea, tho 

 Black Sea, and the sea which extends between Egypt and the penin- 

 sula of Asia Minor. This part of Asia is not characterised like the 

 south-east by being split into manifold divisions and members, by which 

 the phenomena of nature are multiplied and diversified, and the inter- 

 course of nations and their progress in civilisation facilitated ; nor 

 does it exhibit great contrasts in the formation of its surface ; but wo 

 find here in the western regions of Asia more than at any other 

 place extensive countries surrounded and penetrated by considerable 

 branches of the sea, which characteristic is rendered more important 

 by being placed where the east and the west approach one another. 



Such are the great features which characterise the external form and 

 the interior surface of Asia. We shall attempt to indicate the peculiar 

 character of each of these great natural divisions. 



The Eastern Table-land. The axis of the elevation of the eastern 

 highland lies in a direction from south-west to north-east, and begins 

 between Cashmere, Badakshan, and the Tsungling, on one side, and the 

 Kailas Mountains, and the sacred lakes of Manassarowa and Rakas- 

 Tal in Tibet, on the other, east of the sources of the Ganges ; it extends 

 to the snow-covered heights of Mount In-shan, situated at the most 

 northern bend of the Hoangho River, and thence it traverses the Khing- 

 khan Mountains east of the lake of Baikal, which form the southern 

 and south-eastern border of the great desert of Gobi, to the n.ost 

 northern bend of the river Amur, which seems to be caused by the 

 north-eastern extremity of the axis. On this most elevated part of 

 the eastern highland the table-lauds of Great and Little Tibet probably 

 rise to the height of from 10,000 to 14,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea (those of Little Tibet measured on the banks of the Upper Satadru 

 or Sutlej ) ; and perhaps the elevation of the deserts of Gobi, about 

 the lake of Khukhu-nor, or Koko-uor, is not much less. Farther to 

 the north-east, the great caravan-road which traverses the desert of 

 Gobi between Kiakhta and Peking, the table-lands sink considerably, 

 and attain only the height of from 3000 to 4000 feet. This axis of 

 the highland, which is inhabited by Tibetan and Mongol tribes, is not 

 parallel to the separate mountain chains which traverse the irregular 

 trapezium of the highland from west to east, but cuts them in a 

 diagonal direction. That part of the highland which is situated to 

 the south-east of the axis seems to contain some very high table-lands ; 

 but the greatest part of it is probably occupied by very high mountain 

 ranges, which descend toward the adjacent low countries with a rapid 

 and steep declivity, and by themselves constitute the most extensive 

 mountain region of the globe. This alpine region however, if we except 

 a small part of the Himalaya range, is almost entirely unknown to 

 Europeans. 



To the north and north-west of the axis extends the greater of the 

 two triangles composing the trapezium of the eastern highland of 

 Asia. It sinks gradually toward the lakes of Baikal, Zaizang, and 

 Aral, forming a series of terraces which continually exhibit less of the 

 characteristic features of the table-lands, till they terminate with tho 

 steppes round the lake of Aral, which are but little above the level of 

 the ocean ; the surface of the lake of Aral itself is 36 feet above the sea- 

 level. These steppes therefore do not form a part of the highland, 

 but of the low and deeply-depressed plains which surround tho Caspian 

 Sea and the lake of Aral. At present only the elevation of the largo 

 lakes which lie on the northern borders of the lowest terraces, and in 

 their most depressed cavities, has been determined with any degree 

 of exactness. The lake of Zaizang is upwards of 1600 feet .above the 

 level of the sea, according to the measurement of Ledebour and Hum- 

 boldt; the lake of Baikal 1420 feet; and Kiakhta, the great commercial 



