170 • ' COSMOS. 



south, on the other side of the parallel of 45° N.^ in the 

 chain of the Thianschan (IVIountains of Heaven), there ap- 

 pears a zone of volcanic activity directed from east to west,, 

 with every kind of manifestation. It extends not only from 

 the fire district (Ho-tscheu) in Turfan, through the small 

 chain of Asferah to Baku, and thence over Ararat into Asia 

 Minor ; but it is believed that it may be traced, oscillating 

 between the parallels of 38° and 40° N.,. through thg vol- 

 canic basin of the Mediterranean as far as Lisbon and the 

 Azores. I have elsewhere* treated in detail of this import- 

 ant subject of volcanic geography. In Greece also, which 

 has suffered from earthquakes more than any other part of 

 Europe (Curtius, PeloponnesoSy i., s. 42-46), it appears that 

 an immense number of thermal springs, some still flowing,, 



* See Asie Centrale, tome i., p. 324-329, and tome ii., p. 108-120; 

 and especially my Carte des Montagues et Volcans de tAsie, compared 

 with the geognostic maps of the Caucasus, and of the plateau of Ar- 

 menia by Abich, and the map of Asia Minor (Argaens) by Peter 

 Tschichatschef, 1853 (Rose, Reise nachdem Ural, Altai, und Kaspischem 

 Meere, bd. ii., p. 576 and 597). In Asie Centrale we find: "From 

 Tourfan, situated upon the southern slope of the Thianchan, to the 

 Archipelago of the Azores, there are 120 degrees of longitude. This 

 is probably the longest and most regular band of volcanic reactions, os- 

 cillating slightly between 38° and 40° of latitude, which exists upon 

 the face of the earth ; it greatly surpasses in extent the volcanic band 

 of the Cordillera of the Andes, in South America. I insist the more 

 upon this singular line of ridges, of elevations, of fissures, and of 

 propagations of commotions, which comprises a third of the circum- 

 fei^ence of a parallel of latitude, because some small accidents of sur- 

 face, the unequal elevation and the breadth of the ridges, or linear 

 elevations, as well as the interruption caused by the sea-basins (Aralo- 

 Caspian, Mediterranean, and Atlantic basins), tend to mark ,the gi*eat 

 features of the geological constitution of the globe. (This bold sketch 

 of a regularly prolonged line of commotion by no means excludes 

 other lines in the direction of which the movements may also be 

 propagated.)" As the city of Khotan and the district south of the 

 Thianschan has been the most ancient and celebrated seat of Bud- 

 dhism, the Buddhistic literature was occupied very early and earnestly 

 with the causes of earthquakes (see Foe-koue-ki, ou Relation des Roy- 

 mmes Bouddiques, translated by M. Abel Remusat, p. 217). By the 

 followers of Sakhyamuni eight of these causes are adduced, among 

 which a revolving wheel of steel, hung with reliques ('sarira, signify- 

 ing body in Sanscrit), plays a principal part — a mechanical explana- 

 tion of a dynamic phenomenon, scarcely more absurd than many of 

 our geological and magnetic myths, which have but recently become 

 antiquated ! According to a statement of Klaproth's, priests, and es- 

 pecially begging monks (Bhikchous), have the power of causing the 

 earth to tremble and of setting the subterranean wheel in motion. 

 The travels of Fahian, the author of the Foe-koue-ki, date about the 

 commencement of the fifth century. 



