20 



THE J-.T1INOI.OOY OF SOUTH EASTERN ASIA. 



that no plains or plateaus exist. To (lie south of tlie opposing 

 great depressions of the Bramahputra and Yang-tse-kiang,* the 

 eastern chains diverge, spreading: themselves, on the one side, 

 over Yun-nan and by the Nanp-lin nearly to Chusan and down 

 the eas^m margin of the Ultraindian Peninsula along the China 

 sea, and throwing out, on fhe other side, the chains of Burmah, Laos 

 and fhe Malay Peninsula. The northern alpine system advances 

 into China, aland of great mountain ranges, basins and plaLs, slop- 

 ing to the Pacific. This eastern slope retaining its northern latitude, 

 has, for the most part, a temperate climate but with heat and cold 

 in excess, owing to its lying on the margin of the great mass of Asia. 

 The western mountain land is cold but in general cc^ered with trees, 

 save in the north. The valltee towards the east are fertile. The 

 soulhern slope in its upper part assimilates to the aspect and climate 

 of the northern alpine land, but to the south the climate rapidly 

 becomes tropical, and the whole region is covered with forest. The 

 region aa a whole presents every aspect of surface and climate — 

 in fhe north west, elevated and and deserts, the moving and 

 Rcorchtng sands of many parts of which are only laid by the intense 

 cold of winter ; in the east and south, plains nearly at the sea level 

 and of great fertility; in the north, snow covered mountains with 

 glacial vallies j in the south, chains clothed to their summits with 

 dense jungle. 



* Themonntafjioas barrier bet ween the Bramahputra-Gangetic and the Yang-tae- 

 Idang depressions, which would otherwise he cnnrinuoua," appears to indicate an 

 action of the subterranean elevatory forces transverse to that which raised the 

 great chain* of Asia and cave the general direction to the continent, Thii trans- 

 verse elevation fa conrinucd in Ultraindta, the MaJay Peninsula, Sumatra &c. 



