180 ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 



from Fesliawer to Nepaul, has made it exceed 20,000 feet 

 above the level of the plain, being higher than the highest 

 peaks of the Andes. The whole is recognised by Ptolemy un- 

 der the name of Imaus. The northern range, known by the 

 uncouth appellations of Mooz Taugh or Karrakorrum, is, I ap- 

 prehend, described by him under that of Mom Ascataneas. 

 Though its absolute elevation appears to exceed the Himalaya, 

 yet, from the high level of its base, it does not present so for- 

 midable an aspect. At the western extremity of these two 

 chains, we find another, running at right angles to both, con- 

 necting them, and shutting in the western side of the table 

 land. This is called the Beloor Taugh, (or Beloor, as tough 

 is merely the generic name of mountain.) It forms the east- 

 ern limit of Shoghnaun, the ancient Sogdiana, and thus coin- 

 cides with the Montes Comedorum, the first ascent which the 

 caravan is represented as having had to encounter. M. Gosse- 

 lin, the most sceptical of modern inquirers, recognises the co- 

 incidence, so that, up to this point, there is no controversy. 



Mr Elphinstone's map exhibits a route up the valley of 

 the Oxus, and then ascending the Beloor, which has every ap- 

 pearance of being the route followed by the' merchants upon 

 this occasion. Having surmounted this laborious ascent, they 

 descended into a plain, not arable or fertile, but affording abun- 

 dant pasturage to the nomadic tribes by whom it was traver- 

 sed. Then ascending a valley, by a route which I suspect to 

 be that traced by Mr Elphinstone, up the valley of the La- 

 dank, they came, first, to the Stone Tower, a singular appella- 

 tion which is never explained, and then to another station, 

 where a grand rendezvous took place of all the caravans that 

 were proceeding to the great emporium of the East. This 

 union was formed, with the view of overcoming an obstacle 

 more formidable than any they had yet encountered, — the migh- 



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