3o6 



PHYSIOGRAPHY. 



[chap. 



than to the northern shores, of the continent. As a con- 

 sequence of this arrangement, a section taken across 

 Eurasia from south to north would show — first a short slope 

 rising rather abruptly from the sea to the top of the 

 mountains ; and then, on the other side of the ridge, a very- 

 long slope, running gradually down to the sea-level in the 

 north. This kind of relief is illustrated, though exaggerated, 

 in the contour given in Fig. 92, where a represents a section 

 across India culminating in the Himalayas,*^; at d, the section 

 runs across another range called the Kuenlun, which has a 

 genera] direction parallel to the Himalayas. Between these 

 two mountain-chains is the elevated plateau or table-land of 

 Tibet, c ; aX e the Altai mountains are crossed, the land 

 between the two ridges d, e, representing the plains of 



Fig. 92. — Diagrammatic section across Eurasia. 



Mongolia and the desert of Gobi ; and then, from the Altai 

 range, the section is continued across the vast Siberian 

 plains to the northern sea. 



It is in Eurasia that the highest land in the world is to be 

 found. The loftiest known peak is that of Mount Everest, 

 in the Himalayas, which rises to a height of 29,000 feet, or 

 about 5^ miles above sea-level. And several other moun- 

 tains in the same range attain to nearly as great altitudes ; 

 thus Kanchinjanga reaches the height of 28,178 feet, and 

 Doulagiri that of about 27,000 feet. 



It is also in Eurasia that the greatest depressions are to 

 be found. The most remarkable of these is that in which 

 the Caspian sea lies. This inland sea is a body of salt- 



