VOLCANIC ELEVATION OF CHAINS. 365 



snowy peaks towards the ocean ; the island of For- 

 mosa, the mountains of which are in like manner 

 covered during the greater part of summer, being its 

 termination. Thus we may follow the Himmaleh 

 system as a continuous chain from the Eastern 

 Ocean, through Hindoo -kho, across Candahar and 

 Khorassan, to beyond the Caspian Sea in Adzar- 

 baidjan, along an extent of 73 degrees, or half the 

 length of the Andes. The western extremity, which 

 is volcanic (like the eastern part), loses its character 

 of a chain in the mountains of Armenia, which are 

 connected with Sangalou, Bingheul, and Kachmir- 

 daugh, in the pachalic of Erzeroum. The mean 

 direction of the system is north 55 west. 



These mountain-chains, with their various rami- 

 fications and intervening platforms and valleys, af- 

 ford evidence to our author of revolutions anciently 

 undergone by the crust of the globe ; these having 

 been elevated by matter thrust up in the line of 

 enormous cracks and fissures. The great depression 

 of Central Asia, spoken of above, he considers as 

 having been caused by the same action. Analogous 

 to the Caspian Sea and other cavities in this district, 

 are the lakes formed in Europe at the foot of the 

 Alps, and which also owe their origin to a sinking 

 of the ground. It is chiefly in the extent of this 

 depression of Central Asia, and consequently in the 

 space where the resistance was least, that we find 

 traces of volcanic action. Several volcanoes are 

 described in this space by ancient Chinese writers, 

 who also mention a variety of volcanic products, 

 such as sal ammoniac and sulphur, which form articles 

 of commerce. 



" We thus know, 1 ' says our author, " in the interior 

 of Asia, a volcanic territory, the surface of which 

 is upwards of 2500 square geographical miles, and 

 which is from 1000 to 1400 miles distant from the 

 sea. It fills the half of the longitudinal valley sit- 

 Hh2 



