130 . 1 C H I N E S E T A T A R Y.
Movhtàik
Botany..
«•* chondo, the fummits of which eonfift of large rocks heaped oa each
Other in fucceffive terraces. There are two vaft cavities, or abyffis,
with perpendicular fides, and fmall lakes'at the.*botthm; which receive
„ the melting fnows, and give fource tö torrents which precipitate thenx-
' felves with a terrible noife àmidft the disjointed rocks. - This ridge is
clothed with perpetual fnow; and,, after dividing the rivers of Ruffian.
Daouria from thofe that flow- into the Baikal, paffes: S. W< and joins affi
chain whieh thns into Mongolia.*
There are fomC forefts near the rivers: but in general' the, extreme-
elevation and Tandy foil of central Alia render trees as rare as- in the-
defarts of Africa:
Of the botany of the- whole central part of AGa, including the vaft
territories of Chincfe Tatary, and Tibet, we are as yet in a manner"
totally ignorant. No European naturalift has ever even pafled through,.
- Some little additional information may be collected from the fourth volume of Dfe Salde. ;
He obferves, p. 23, that the river of Kalka,-whence the namejaf the 'Kalkas, rifes in a .faffious.-
mountain called Suelki, or Siolki. This, name may therefore be. applied to the ridge which,
divides the Kalkas from Chinefe Daouria. The,river Sptfgari, p^ S t r ife s in the mountain
Champé, (Chan fignifies a mountain,) fameus as the original-border of the Mandflmrs,.and faid-\
to be always covered with fnow, whence its nàtne which fignifies the white mountain. This appellation
may be applied to the ridge which runs north from Corea, on the eaft of the river
Songari. The river Ohon, (a name, p 514, of the Sagalian till-joined- by the Argoon) rifes-
from the mountains-o£Kentey, whichallo give lource ta the Tula and the Eerlon p- 522- 523°~
The Kentéy is therefore another name for the mountains of Kinhan, or. perhaps mote .ftriftly
thofe of Sóchondo : and he alfo mentions thofe o f Altay, and'tliofe of Trangha, and Cocoy. »
His Hangai, to the S .E . of Altay, is the- Changai of Balias, andprobably the Trangha-is the]
fame name disfigured byan error‘ 6f the prefs. The Cocoy- he fays is a low chain betweenjthe
Altay and the Hangai, but this geography is unfatisfaftory. He adds that the river Hopto •
rims along the chain o f Cocoy, and falls into, the lake of Ekaral, to the weft óf Hangai, while-
the lake.of Kirkil is to the eaft of Hangai, and receives two rivers which flow from that mountain.
See D ’Anville’s map of Afia : but that geographer’s, radical mifconceptió.n of the width,
and- estent o f mountainous chains disfigures all his maps! That, of Iflenieff greatly, differsj but-:
-die S Cocoy feems the Bogdo.. In the jefuitic maps the lake Upfa Hands ■ due N. from. Ekaral,.,
while it is fix ‘degrees to the eaft : ' and the Opper Irtifli runs N.‘ inftcad o f W.
Mr. Bell-, i. 427, 8 vo. obferved a chain o f mountains in .the N.W.' ofChina, about fifteen miles,
-in-breadth, in length above one thoufànd.miles, running N._and 8-, and encompaffing the greater
part of China.to the N. and W. Where he crofted the fandy defart, p. ^oy,, it was. twenty miles
- broad ; but in feme places is thirty leagues-. ' This fandy défait fhould be-laid down ■'in the mapo>
like thofeiof Africa:
• Dec..Ruffes, vi.. 248— 254, where the laft is termed the Gungurtian and Manftricanian -
mountains. ’ The original-German -nmft.be obfcure, for the-. French translation, .and Mr. Tooke’s
extra&s, fometimes prefent an unintelligible phrafeology. The Gungur muft be the Hongur of
D ’Anville. . ,
much
CHAP. IV. N A T U R A E G E O G R A P H Y ,
much'lfefsv explored the-: vcg‘etable..produ(fts ofothefe e^tenfijjf regions.
From thdr eLatedffituatfon,-and M ( ■ H j I V
that 'io t ro p k ^ p k aw te even HHB are » beertpefted 1 tbetofl«ra, and-by thevaEUe ^ ^ r f
a few travuto H M m m m s m » P I
’ optTatary. it w61dlS'.appe«.th^«bl1Mft-AB).^ffl®n^i^|lWefo'
B m„ft part thekttieestateofthenorth of Qetmauy,-
partakes' of the .cfimatb of India,.fp ,b«fe»blmth»kft m
■ rdd1Tbf,its.v:gbti« e f roduaibns!.indBr-the1XaPfp,«?teSheteste
™“nv corntnod .features in, the f lo r a e of-Sihe^snd the north of
Tataw It is probable alfo that peculiar,.fpeqtes, or ev« Kenera may
P H t found in fin* an entenftvm J g f — j
• i ' 7 that we are as M certainly acquainted with,, expept»wfort b eW
Podium bar<Jmetz, called alfo the Scythian lamb:
IB S
Laft is one of the plants that forniffi^s the l | g | | § g l | . . , . -
1 The aoilogypf thkewide
'theme, In Jhich the, earn* of the de%t jp^ar ty;th the TO*
E,at..of?e A lp ^ a the tigel with the ermme. -T*p w . l jh & u d fte
■ K g - j , .peculiar ifpecies of cattle who* giui)t;|ike;Cwuie, are
^nSle moft rentarkable I B .„The
ofamoufoenSur, ; g i S B M E % l
found both in *e.eaftern an ^ .^ e rn ifgio#J^^Jediymer^re ®
Paid to, produce tin. As Ruffian Daouria eahibits fo many yaluabi, fubflances,
it is reafonahfe
Bota.kv- i _
Zoology.
Mihendogy.