PEALE.] THERMAL SPRINGS OF ASIA. 341 



temperature of the air be at— 40° F., or even lower*. At Yakutsk the 

 soil is said to be frozen to the depth of 630 feet.t 



Farther south there is a volcanic line of mountains extending east- 

 ward from Turkestan into Asia — the Thian Shan Range — and in con- 

 nection Avith this there are thermal springs.f Central Asia, and espe- 

 cially Northern and Western China, is a terra incognita, and every year 

 adds something to our knowledge of its geological features. In 1871, 

 Colonel Montgomery discovered in Great Thibet, near Lake jSTamcho, or 

 Tengri Nur Lake, a geyser region of considerable interest, which in 

 future examination may prove as interesting as those already known. 

 This will be briefly described further on in this chapter. 



The list of Indian springs in the accompan;ving table is taken mainly 

 from the enumeration given in the journal of the Asiatic Society, Ben- 

 gal, Vol XXXIII, by Eobertde Schlagintweit, and is, therefore, in much 

 greater detail than any other part of the table, a fact which must be 

 borne in mind in the comparison of the different parts of Asia. India is 

 not primarily an igneous region, although it is not destitute of volcanic 

 rocks, § and has been subject to earthquake shocks. Its thermal springs 

 will be found mainly in connection with its mountain ranges in the jDcnin- 

 sula, and especially in the Himalayas, where there is great disturbance 

 in the position of the rocks. The list of Chinese springs is extremely 

 limited, not because of any probable lack of springs in China, particu- 

 larly in the west and north, but on account of the meager information 

 we possess regarding the physical features of the Chinese Empire. The 

 two localities in Eastern China — Yung-Mak, near Macao andFoo-chow- 

 fbo — are on the coast, and may have some connection with the hot 

 springs of Formosa, which are opposite this part of the Chinese coast. 

 In the northern part of the province of Chihli warm springs are common 

 at the foot of the hills, and this is probably true also of most of the 

 northern and mountainous portions of China. In the Malayan Penin- 

 sula the proximity of Sumatra will account for the springs of Ayer 

 Panas. 



THE HOT SPRINGS AND GEYSERS OF THIBET. 



In the province of Chamnamring, called Chang, near the Lake Xam- 

 cho or Tengri Nur, Col. I. G. Montgomerie, in 1871, discovered an inter- 

 esting hot spring and geyser locality, which he describes in an article in 

 the Journal of the Geographical Society of London. The following brief 

 description of two of the areas is from his narrative.|| On the 28th of 

 December, 1871, he reached "Chutang Chaka, where there are some 

 fifteen hot springs, whose water was found to be at a temperature of 

 166° F., boiling water at the same place only rising to 186° F. The water 

 has a smell of sulphur." On the 30th tbey came to " Petiugt^Chuja, near 

 which place there is a large stony area from which a dozen columns of 

 hot water issue and rise to a height of 40 or 50 feet, producing so much 

 steam that the sky is darkened by it," and the noise was so great that 

 the travelers could not hear one another speaking. The water of these 

 jets was 176° F. 



'Travels in Siberia by Aclolph Erman. 



tThe mean temperature of Yakutsk is about 12|° F., according to Milne. Trans. 

 Asiatic Soc. of Japan, Vol. VII, Part I. 



I See Semeuof s first ascent of the Tian Shan, or celestial mountains. Jour. Geog. 

 Soc. 1861, pp. 3G1, 362. 



^ The Deecan trap (basalt), in the Indian Peninsula, covers 200,000 square miles, and 

 is of Cretaceous and Tertiary age. 



II Narrative of an exploration of the Naracho or Tengri Nur Lake in Great Thibet, 

 &c., Jour. Geog. Soc. of London, Vol. XLV, p. 317. 



