1881. ] Geography and Travels. 1025 
cultivation; among the populated tracts, however, some are the 
most densely peopled in the world.” 
“In the midst of the continent is a great central plateau, more 
than two millions of English square miles in area, rising to great 
altitudes, which dominates the river systems and the drainage of 
the greater part of Asia and which is bounded by the Himalayas 
towards the Indian Ocean, by the Yun-ling and the Inshan 
Mountains towards the Pacific Ocean, by the Altai and Yablonoi 
ranges towards the Arctic Ocean, and by the Pamir Mountains 
towards the inland seas, the Aral and the Caspian: The Pamir 
Mountains constitute a group connecting the great ranges of 
Himalaya and Altai. Branching off from this central plateau is 
another extensive plateau with an average altitude of 5000 feet 
above the sea, which includes Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Persia, 
Armenia, and Asia Minor, and from a small part of which the 
drainage is towards the Atlantic Ocean through the Black Sea 
and the Mediterranean, It is through Asia Minor and the Cau- 
casus that the Asiatic Mountains are connected with the ranges 
of southern Europe. It is remarkable that from within this 
central plateau, walled round as it is by mountain ranges, there 
rise most of the greatest Asiatic rivers which burst through the 
mountains in order to make a passage towards the sea. Such, 
for instance, are the Indus with its affluent the Satlej, the Brah- 
maputra, the Ganges, the Irawady, the Salwen, the Cambodia or 
Mekong, flowing into the Indian Ocean; the Yang-tsze Kiang, 
the Hoang-Ho, the Amur, flowing into the Pacific Ocean; the 
Lena, the Yenisei, and the Ob flowing into the Arctic Ocean; 
the Jaxartes and the Oxus flowing into the inland sea of Aral. 
Many other rivers which though lesser are still very great, take 
their sources from the outer slopes of the mountains which sur- 
round the central plateau. : : 
Next after the oceanic drainage, the inland Asiatic drainage, 
which finds no vent towards the ocean, may claim attention as 
being the largest in the world, and as occupying nearly four 
millions of English square miles or nearly one-fourth 
the Asiatic continent. This extraordinary drainage area may 
be divided into the following categories :—1st, the Caspian; 2d, 
the Aral; 3d, the Balkash [Siberian]; 4th, Lake Lob [Yarkand]; 
5th, Koko-Nor; 6th, the lesser lake of Tibet; 7th, the lesser 
lakes of Altai; 8th, the Helmand draining nearly all Afghanistan | 
into the Seistan swamps; gth, the Kavir or saline deserts in 
Eastern Persia; oth, the lake of Urumiya in Northwestern 
Persia; 11th, Lake Van in Kurdistan; 12th,the Dead Sea. 
The central plateau is made up of several plateaux having © 
different altitudes. The highest is that of Tibet, on the average 
15,000 feet above the sea, the loftiest in the world; next, that of 
Pamir, 13,000 feet; then that of Koko-Nor, 10,000 feet. Next 
we see a sudden dip or depression, namely, that of Yarkand or © 
