HIMALAYA SYSTEM. 385 



According to the most recent accounts, tlie plain of cnAPTER 

 Khorasan, which runs in the direction of Herat, and ^^^^^^- 

 limits the Hindoo-kho to the north, appears to be rather 

 a continuation of the Tsung-ling, or the Mountains of The TsunR- 

 Onions, as tliis chain is somewhat quaintly distinguished, ''""■ 

 and of the whole system of Kwan-lun to the west, than 

 a prolongation of the Himalayas as has been commonly 

 supposed. From the Tsung-ling the Kwan-lun, or Koul- 

 koun range, runs from west to east towards the sources 

 of the Hoang-ho or Yellow River, and penetrates with 

 its snowy summits into Slien-see, a province of China. 

 Nearly in the meridian of these springs rises the great 

 mass of mountains on the lake Khoukhou-noor, resting Mountains 

 to the north upon the snowy chain of the Nan-shan or Khoukhou- 

 Ki-leen-shan, which also runs from west to east. Be- "oor. 

 tween Nan-shan and Thian Chan, the heights of Tangout 

 limit the margin of the upper desert of Cobi or Shamo, 

 which is prolonged from south-west to north-east. The 

 latitude of the central part of the Kwan-lung range is 

 35° 30'. 



The Himalaya system separates the valleys of Cash- Himalaya 

 mere and Nepaul from Bootan and Thibet. To the west ^^ ^"'' 

 it rises in the mountain Javaher to an elevation of 25,746 

 feet, and to the east in Dhwalagiri to 27,737 feet above 

 the level of the sea. Its general direction is from north- 

 west to south-east, and thus it is not at all parallel to 

 the Kwan-lun range, to which it approaches so near in 

 the meridian of Attok and Jellalabad that they seem to 

 form the same mass of mountains. Following the Ha- Eastern 

 malaya range eastward, we find it bordering Assam on 

 the north, containing the sources of tlie Brahmapoutra, 

 passing through the northern part of Ava, and penetrat- 

 ing into Yun-nan, a province of China, to the west of 

 Yong-tchang. It there exhibits pointed and snow-clad 

 summits. It bends abruptly to the north-east, on the 

 confines of Hou-quang, Kiang-see, and Fo-kien, and ad- 

 vances its snowy peaks towards the ocean ; the island of 

 Formosa, the mountains of which are in like manner 



