364 



HIMMALEH MOUNTAINS. 



turquois ; and, according to recent accounts, the plain 

 of Khorassan, which runs in the direction of Herat, 

 and limits the Hindoo-kho to the north, appears to 

 be rather a continuation of the Tsungling and of the 

 whole system of Kwan-lun to the west, than a pro- 

 longation of the Himmalehs, as is commonly sup- 

 posed. From the Tsung-ling the Kwan-lun, or Koul- 

 koun range, runs from west to east towards the 

 sources of the Hoang-ho or Yellow River, and 

 penetrates with its snowy summits into Chen-si, a 

 province of China. Nearly in the meridian of these 

 springs rises the great mass of mountains on the 

 lake Khoukhou-noor, resting to the north upon the 

 snowy chain of the Nanshan or Ki-leen-shan, which 

 also runs from west to east. Between Nanshan and 

 Teen-shan, the heights of Tangout limit the margin 

 of the upper desert of Gobi, or Cha-mo, which is 

 prolonged from south-west to north-east. The 

 latitude of the central part of the Kwan-lun range is 

 35° 30'. 



4. Himmaleh System. — This system separates the 

 valleys of Cashmere and Nepaul from Bootan and 

 Thibet. To the west it rises in the mountain Ja- 

 vaher to an elevation of 25,746 feet, and to the east 

 in Dhwalagiri to 28,074 feet above the level of the 

 sea. Its general direction is from north-west to 

 south-east, and thus it is not at all parallel to the 

 Kwanlun range, to which it approaches so near in the 

 meridian of Attok and Jellalabad that they seem to 

 form the same mass of mountains. Following the 

 Himmaleh range eastward, we find it bordering 

 Assam on the north, containing the sources of the 

 Brahmapoutra, passing through the northern part of 

 Ava, and penetrating into Yun-nan, a province of 

 China, to the west of Young-tchang. It there ex- 

 hibits pointed and snow-clad summits. It bends 

 abruptly to the north-east, on the confines of Hou- 

 kouang, Kiang-si, and Foukian, and advances its 



