52 Tubleau of High Asia. [No. 1, 
For the Alps.—The two volumes “ Untersuchungen wber die physi- 
calische Geographie und die Geologie der Alpen,” published by 
my brothers Adolphe and Hermann. 
I. GeoarapnicAL CONFIGURATIONS. 
1. Plateaus. 
Plateaus, in consequence of their being more or less intersected by 
deep and broad valleys, or from being covered with ridges, are so 
variable in their form, that the use of the name, in many instances, 
appears to be somewhat arbitrary. I prefer not to extend the meaning 
of the name too far, and in so doing diverge from the practice of 
earlier travellers, who commonly applied the term to every mountain- 
ous region of great general elevations—as the natives of the Himalaya 
have a tendency to do—irrespective of its form. 
In the Himalaya, which is composed in almost every direction of 
lofty and irregular ridges, and intersected by numerous valleys of 
inconsiderable width, no plateau of any extent has been discovered as 
yet, nor is it at all probable that one exists. 
Western Tibet was for a long time supposed to be little else than a 
country of plateaux—an erroneous impression emanating from the first 
observers, though Humboldt had early pointed out the error of this 
belief,* as well as later travellers (the Stracheys, Cunningham, and 
Thomson). Plateaux certainly do occur in Tibet ; they are, however, 
much less numerous and considerably smaller than I had been led to 
expect. In Balti, the plateau Deosdi is 14,200 ft. high. 
Between the Karakorim and Kiinliin, especially near the western 
erest of the former, several well-defined plateaux of extraordinary height 
occur. Some of the highest are called : Dapsang (17,500 ft.), Béllu 
(16,883 ft.), Aksée Chin (16,620 ft.), and Vohab (16,419 ft) In 
summer, no snow covers these plateaux, but also no vegetation : in the 
far distance there are some isolated, lofty, snowy peaks, besides which 
the eye discerns nothing but barren rocks, and extensive sterile plains, 
all well watered by streams, to which the glaciers covering the flanks 
of the peaks afford an ample and lasting supply. If water was want- 
ing to these plateaux, they would be a complete desert, as uninhabita- 
ble to man as to any animal. 
* Ansichten der Natur. Vol. I., p. 104, 
