1887] Geography and Travels. 653 
ally-important Chinese town of Hami, our traveller crossed 
- the desert at its narrowest place to An-si-chau, and then rested 
awhile at the fine oasis of Shachau, at the foot of the Nan-shan 
range. Crossing the ‘Nan-shan, he made his way, in spite of 
much quiet opposition from the Chinese, to the Mur-ussu, the 
head-waters of the Yang-tse-Kiang. An uninterrupted gigantic 
mountain wall stretches from the Hoang-Ho to.the Pamir, di- 
viding the great plateau of Central Asia into two parts,—the 
Mongolian Desert on the north and Tibet on the south. Tsaidam, 
or Zaidam, may be considered a part of the Tibetan plateau, but 
is enclosed all around by mountains; southward by the Kuen- 
luin, which under various names extends from the sources of the 
arkand River far into China proper, and to the north by the 
Altyn-tagh and Nan-shan. The wild yak, which appears to be 
found in herds as numerous as once those of the bison in North 
America, never utters a sound, while the domestic one grunts 
like a pig. 
- The pass over the Tang-la range is sixteen thousand seven 
hundred feet high, but only two thousand one hundred feet 
above the Mur-ussu, and two thousand above that of the Sang- 
chu, which is believed to join the Salwin. The chain of lakes, 
from Urga crossed the Gobito Ala-shan. Leaving a depot at the 
the Odontala, or thousand springs. Crossing to the Bhu River, 
.the Di-chu of the Tangutans, the upper course of the Yang- 
times the caravan route between Khoten and China. The Kuen- 
Lun was found to culminate in the snowy group of Jing-ri oe 
Nor 
~ Test of the party is made up of pony-drivers and servants. 
oe Without any armed escort, but provided with a passport from 
VOL, Xx1.—no. 7. nae 
