8G4 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



of Gl jor, continues westward, and is said to have been more 

 particularly the Parvati Montes, or ancient Paropamissus of 

 Ptolemy. Further on, we find another Takt-y-Soleimaun, as 

 well as a third at Och, on the Syr-D riah, or Jaxartes. All 

 Arahic names in central Asia are, however, of recent imposition. 

 Then we have the Caspian range, leading on to the second, or 

 interpontine Caucasus of western writers. Towards the east, 

 Hindu-Koosh abuts on the Bclor ridges, which turn northward, 

 and fi] nt the high table land of Parnere, termed the 



back-bone of the world. Pooshtu Kur, the most prominent 

 peak in the new direction of the chain, sends forth, from its 

 broad glacier, the grand source of the Oxus, Jeyhoon or Arnou, 

 which flows to the west and north ; and further on, where the 

 Gakchal mountains curve from north to east, joining the Mous- 

 sour and Thianchan chains, continued fronts of elevated gla- 

 ciers pass on, in a north-eastern direction, till they subside in 

 the Gobi Desert. From the glacier of Moustach issues the 

 Jaxartes, flowing on to the Sea of Aral. From longitude 70 to 

 80 east, there are only three practicable passes to the west; 

 all, further eastward, as well as the river, are turned to the 

 north. From the nucleus of Irin Khabirgan, above the sources 

 of the He river, east of the city Hi, passes a subordinate chain 

 of high lands, leaving Lake Balkach to the west, and soon 

 after (about lat. 49), turning likewise to the north and. east, 

 joins the little Altai, and constitutes a second table land, till it 

 is united with the clustering ranges about Lake Baikal. We 

 need not pursue this description further eastward, but confine 

 our observations, by stating that from the east to the south- 

 west a cross range, under various names, separates the Gobi 

 Desert from the plains of Thibet, a great part of which is still 

 geographically unknown, though here, also, as on the west of 

 the great table land, rivers of considerable size, among which 

 another He and the Kachgar Yarkiang terminate in lakes, or 

 are absorbed in the sands, having frequently, in their upper 

 courses, fertile vales and habitable glens. 



