ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 87 



( 



in the basin of the Selenga, has from very ancient times 

 formed a boundary between the Turkish race to the south 

 and the Kirghis (Hakas, identical with Set/ecu) in the north. 

 (Jacob Grimm, Gesch. derdeutschen Sprache, 1848, Th. i. 

 S. 227.) It is the original seat of the Samoieds or Soyotes, 

 who wandered as far as the Icy Sea, and who were long 

 regarded in Europe as a nation belonging exclusively to the 

 coasts of the Polar Sea. The highest snow-clad summits of 

 the Altai of Kolywan are the Bielucha and the Katunia- 

 Pillars. The height of the latter is about that of Etna. 

 The Daurian highland, to which the mountain knot of 

 Kemtei belongs, and on the eastern side of which is the 

 Jablonoi Chrebet, divides the depressions of the Baikal 

 and the Amur. 



2. The mountain system of the Thian-schan, or Celestial 

 Mountains, the Tengri-tagh of the Turks (Tukiu) and of 

 the kindred race of the Hiongnu, is eight times as long, in 

 an east and west direction, as the Pyrenees. Beyond, i. e. 

 west of its intersection with the transverse or north and 

 south chain of the Bolor and Kosuyrt, the Thian-schan bears 

 the names of Asferah and Aktagh, is rich in metals, and has 

 open fissures, which emit hot vapours, luminous at night, 

 and which are used for obtaining sal-ammoniac. (Asie 

 Centrale, T. ii. p. 18-20.) East of the transverse Bolor and 

 Kosyurt chain, there follow successively in the Thian-schan, 

 the Kashgar Pass (Kaschgar-dawan) ; the Glacier Pass of 

 Djeparle, which leads to Kutch and Aksu in the Tarini basin ; 

 the volcano of Pe-schan, which sent forth fire and streams of 

 lava at least as late as the middle of the seventh century ; the 



