T H I 



3G5 



T H I 



M. Milne Edwar.ls remarks that the aspect of these 

 small crustaceans is very peculiar, and approximates them 

 a little to the Anurous section. In other respects, he ob- 

 serves, they bear a strong analogy to Atclecyclus, and, as 

 well as that genus, establish a passage between the O.ry- 

 stomes and the Cancerians. 



Thiapolita. 



THTAN SHAN MOUNTAINS. [SONGARIA.] 

 THIAN SHAN NANLU is the name of a Chinese go- 

 vernment situated nearly in the centre of Asia. European 

 geographers generally call it Eastern or Chinese Turkistan, 

 an '1 also Little Biicharia. The name of Turkistan is ap- 

 plied to it because the bulk of tin- inhabitants in that part 

 (it \ -ia is composed of Turkish tribes : and as these tribes 

 are frequently designated by the collective name of Bu- 

 chaiiaas, from the town of Bokhara, Eastern Turkistan is 

 .ailed Little Biicharia, or rather Bokharia, to distin- 

 guish it from Western or Proper Turkistan. which is called 

 Biicharia without any epithet. Thian Shan Xanlu, in 

 .Chinese, signifies the ' southern road of the Thian Shan 

 Mountains,' and has been applied to the countries south of 

 that mountain -system, because they are traversed by the 

 southern of the two great commercial roads which connect 

 China Proper with the countries of Western A-i;i, whilst 

 the countries north of the Thian Shan are traversed by the 

 northern-commercial road, and on that account are called 

 Thian Shan Pelu, 'the northern road of the Thian Shan.' 

 The last-mentioned countries constitute the government of 

 Hi. or Songaria. They have been described under SON- 

 GARIA. 



Thian Shan Xanlu lies between 36" and 44 N. lat., and 

 extends from 71 to 90 E. long. From west to east it ex- 

 tends about 1250 miles, and its width from north to south 

 varies between 550 and 300 miles. Its area probably ex- 

 i 500,000 square miles, so that it is ten times as large 

 as England without Wales, and twice and a half as ];. 

 1'Yance. It is mostly surrounded by countries belonging to 

 the Chinese empire : on the north is Songaria, or Thian 

 Shan Pelu, east the province of Kansi, and south Tibet. 

 Only its western side is enclosed by countries independent 

 'if China. On the south-west is Ladakh, on the west 

 Kunduz, including Badakshan and Bokhara, and on the 

 north-west Khokan. The three last-mentioned countries 

 are within Western Turkistan, or Great Bucharia. 



Thian Shan Nanlu is a country entirely isolated from the 

 rest of the world. On the north, west, and south it is en- 

 closed by mountain-ranges of such extent and elevation, 

 that the places which are permanently inhabited can only 

 be reached by passing for several days over mountains, 

 which are not inhabited except for two or three months in 

 the year, when they are visited by a few families of wan- 

 dering tribes of mountaineers. On the east of Thian Shan 

 Nanlu is an extensive desert, which appears to be unin- 

 habitable. The country enclosed by the three ranges and 

 the desert receives an abundant supply of water from the 

 mountains, a considerable portion of which is always 

 covered with snow, and the numerous rivers which de . < end 

 from them form a large river, called the Tarim, which 

 Hitter compares with the Danube, but which does not 

 reach the sea; it terminates in an extensive lake situated 

 on the wc-tern edge of the desert. The basin of the river 

 Taiirn is the largest closed river-basin on the globe, if 

 that of the Caspian Sea and the rivers falling into it is 

 cxcepted. 



Mountain*. At the south-western angle of Thian Shan 

 Nanlu stands an extensive mountain-knot, called Push- 

 tikhur, which occupies the space between 36 and 37 N. 

 lat., and between 71 and 74 E. long. From its western 



side issues that elevated chain which is known in Afghan- 

 istan by the name of Hindu Kush ; from its northern ede;e 

 another range, called theTartashling, or Bolor Tagh, which 

 extends northward ; and in the eastern part there begins a 

 third range, which traverses the whole of Central Asia, and 

 extends through China Proper to the shores of the Pacific. 

 This last-mentioned range is called by the Chinese Kuen- 

 luen, but that portion of it which is contiguous to the 

 mountain-knot of Pushtikhur goes by the name of Thsung- 

 ling. 



The Thsungling maybe considered as that portion of the 

 Kuenluen range which extends from the Pushtikhur on the 

 west (72 E. long.) to the mountain-pass of Karakorum on 

 the east (between 76 and 77 E. long.), and occupies 

 nearly the whole of the space between 35" and 37 N. lat. 

 Very little is known of this mountain-region, which cannot 

 surprise us, when we learn that, according to an intel- 

 ligent Mohammedan traveller, an eternal mass of snow 

 occurs in these parts, which occupies 200 cos (equal to 

 more than 300 English miles) in length. An extraordinary 

 phenomenon is stated to occur on the northern declivity of 

 the mountains, where the Thsungling and Pushtikhur are 

 contiguous the continuance of rain for three successive 

 months. That portion of the Kuenluen range which is 

 east of the Pass of Karakorum is still less known. As far 

 as the Keriya Pass (84 E. long.) its snow-covered sum- 

 mits lower towards the north with a moderate descent, and 

 a hilly tract of moderate width extends along their base, 

 which is fertilized by the rivers descending from the 

 range ; but east of the Keriya Pass no watercourses are 

 found along the base, which leads to the supposition that 

 the declivities of the mountains are extremely'steep, and that 

 they are in immediate contact with the sandy desert which 

 extends north of them. Two roads traverse the Kuenluen 

 range. The most western leads through the Karakorum 

 Pass from Hindustan and Cashmir by the way of Leh in 

 Ladakh, to Khoten in Thian Shan Nanlu. The road runs 

 from Leh north-north-east over a mountain-chain, and 

 descends to the valley of the river Shayuk, the course of 

 which it follows upwards between the mountain-masses of 

 the Kuenluen nearly to the source of the river. It passes 

 by a narrow valley over the highest part of the mountains 

 (between 36 and 36 30'), and descends on the north into 

 the valley of the river Misar, which is a tributary of the 

 Tarim. In the narrow valley of the Misar the road runs 

 to Khelasten (north of 37 N. lat.), where the mountains 

 disappear, and cultivation begins to be general. This 

 mountain-road certainly does not rise to such an elevation 

 as those which traverse the Himalaya Mountains, for it is 

 quite free from snow in summer, and, with the exception of 

 the highest portion, it does not rise above the line of 

 vegetation, or even that of trees, as may be inferred from 

 the fact that fire-wood and fodder for beasts of burthen are 

 generally abundant, and permanent habitations are met 

 with in the valleys of the Shayuk and Misar up to the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the mountain-pass. The highest part of 

 the pass probably does not exceed 12,000 feet above the 

 sea-level. This road however is much more frequented in 

 winter than in summer, because the melting of the snow 

 on the mountains adjacent to the road renders travelling 

 in summer almost impossible. We have no account of the 

 eastern mountain-road that traverses the Kuenluen range. 

 We only know that it connects the town of Lhassa in 

 Tibet with Khoten in Thian Shan Nanlu, and that it tra- 

 verses a very mountainous country of great extent, passing 

 near the large lake of Tengri-Nor, and issuing from the 

 mountains by the narrow valley in which the town of 

 Keriya is built. From Keriya it runs north-west through 

 a hilly country to Khoten. 



The western districts of the Thian Shan Nanlu are occu- 

 pied by several ranges, belonging to the Tartashling or 

 Bolor Tagh. This mountain-system extends north of the 

 mountain-knot of Pushtikhur, from 37 to near 41 N. lat., 

 where it descends with long slopes towards the valley of 

 the river Sihoon or Jaxartes. Its extent from south to 

 north therefore does not much exceed 2GO miles. It is 

 difficult to determine its extent from east to west, as nearly 

 the whole country from 09 to 74, between the upper 

 courses of the Sihoon or Jaxartes and that of the Jihoon 

 or Oxus, is almost entirely unknown, and appears to be 

 occupied by widely-spread rocky masses of mountain- 

 ranges, between which only narrow valleys occur, that 

 are visited by the wandering tribes of the Kirghis only 



