KARA-NARIN-ULA RANGE. 5 



Towards the east the Kara-narin-ula is connected 

 by low and perhaps interrupted ridges of hills with 

 the Sheiten-ula and therefore with the In-shan ; on 

 the south it is separated from the Ala-shan moun- 

 tains by sandy wastes upwards of 60 miles in extent. 



Like the mountains near Kalgan, the Kara-narin- 

 ula serves as a border rang^e, i.e. it forms the eirdlinof 

 rampart of the elevated Gobi, separating it from 

 the lower valley of the Hoang-ho ; the difference be- 

 tween the level of the country lying east and west 

 of it amounting to 2,400 feet. From the valley of 

 the river it presents the appearance of a steep 

 wall, intersected by occasional narrow defiles. Its 

 greatest height is in the middle ; but along its whole 

 extent it is wild and barren. Enormous crag-s of 

 granite, hornblende, gneiss, felspathic porphyry, 

 syenite, felspar, limestone, and clayey schist furrow 

 the sides of these mountains and сголуп many of 

 their peaks, whilst great blocks of the minerals 

 become detached from the rocks by a natural pro- 

 cess of disintegration, and roll down to the bottom 

 of the ravines. Here and there a shrub of the wild 

 peach, or a scanty elm, clings to the mountain side, 

 but otherwise there is very little vegetation of any 

 kind. Nevertheless, animals abound here ; numbers 

 of kuku-yamans haunt the rocks, and the argali in- 

 habits the western slopes where the outline of the 

 hills is softer. The peculiarity of this range is the 

 abundance of its springs and watercourses, notwith- 

 standing the entire absence of trees. 



From Khan-ula we had the choice of two routes 



