216 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



High Asia is walled in on the western side by the Bolar chain or Cloudy Mountains, in 

 connection with which there is still loftier table-land. This is the remarkable region of 



, Mount Everest, ,000 ft. 



/ Kncn'.un. 



'1'Uuiu Chan. 



iduch?, Altai Nts . ll.oa ft. 



Plateau of Central Asia. 



Pamir, locally called Bam-i-duniah, or the " Eoof of the World," a plain at the height of . 

 15,600 feet, but a trifle lower than Mount Blanc. The Oxus has here its source ; and it 

 forms the water-parting between its basin and that of the Indus, with other rivers, which 

 run off to different seas. 



The locality is a remarkable one, dreary in its aspect, and hard to climb, owing to the 

 encumbering snow and steep declivities, while it is also difficult for the stranger to reach, 

 on account of the rarefaction of the atmosphere. Still it is occupied by various forms of 

 animal and vegetable life, and is annually for a time the residence of a native wandering 

 people. The snow lies deep upon the "Eoof" for the greater part of the year, but 

 disappears in summer, though masses remain unmelted in hollows and shaded places. 

 During this season, the spot is a favourite resort of the Kirghis, for the pastming of their 

 cattle, who retire into the sheltered valleys at lower levels as the winter approaches. It 

 is also traversed by merchants as the commercial route between Bokhara and the Chinese 

 empire. A fine sheet of water lies upon the table-land. This is the Sir-i-kol, the loftiest 

 lake of the globe. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, in the last half of the thirteenth 

 century, passed through this region on his remarkable Oriental journey, and has left on 

 record accurate notices. He particularly observed, without understanding the cause, that 

 fire did not burn with the same vivacity and strength as in other places, neither did it 

 cook victuals so well. He was the first to point out this circumstance, which has been 

 verified by others at high elevations, and is doubtless the effect of the rarefaction of the 

 air. For five centuries and a half afterwards, we have no record of any European having 

 reached the spot, till Lieutenant Wood, after surmounting innumerable difficulties and 

 dangers, stood, to use the native expression, upon the " Roof of the World," and beheld the 

 expanse of lake Sir-i-kol stretched out before him, covered with thick ice, with the infant 

 and classical river Oxus issuing from it. This was on the 19th of February 1838, at five 

 o'clock in the afternoon. He ascended by the valley of the river from Bokhara, accom 

 panied by a party of natives. On approaching its source, the snow lay deeper and deeper 

 every step in advance, for the winter season added immensely to the difficulty of the 

 undertaking. Two hours were occupied in forcing a passage over a field of snow not five 

 hundred yards in extent. On attempting to proceed more rapidly over a favourable site, 

 a guide seized the bridle of his horse, and cautioned him against the "wind of the 

 mountain," alluding to the highly rarefied air, which speedily arrests exertion. Wishing 

 to ascertain the depth of the lake, he tried to make an opening in the ice, but found the 

 slightest muscular effort too exhausting to proceed. Half a dozen strokes of the axe 

 prostrated the workman ; and though a few minutes' respite sufficed to restore the breath, 

 anything like continual labour was impossible. A short run mado the runner gasp ; the 

 pulse throbbed at a fearful rate ; the voice was sensibly affected ; and conversation in a 

 loud tone was too painful to be maintained. 



