eras, which offer to the developement of jong-ande, life and to
the formation of human ^sobietiiss^ whether tot Siheri^n
hunting tribes, or to Turkish and Mongolian nomades, or
to the agricultural Chinese, «or to the monastic-and recipe
Tibetans,' a diversity of plains,-of terrasses and hollows,
which occasion an -infinite variety in climate. .. A manotd-
nous uniformity prevails indeed over the vast steppes which
extend from the Jaxartes and the chain of Alatau to the Icy
Sea, but in the region beyond the Yenisei;-and to the-east-'
ward of the meridian of Sayansk and of lake Baikal,
Siberia has the variety of surface belonging to a mountainous
country properly so termed.” The last remarks* of
Humboldt refer principally to the northern regions ~s?of
Asia beyond the boundaries of the great plateau. Within
the circumference formed by the- -mountainous barriers
already described;, there are tracts much higher .than others,
yet the entire region, as Professor Bitter hns^observed^-
bears the character of a vast insulated. upland, andl||g
extent and average elevation being taken into the ^eooffiat,’
it may be said to form on the whole the most aonsidenablf
projection on the surface of our planet.
Paragraph 2.—Subdivisions.—Interior Countries oC High
Asia.—Surrounding Countries.
The country included within the four mountain-chains is
subdivided by these principal • barriers into three great
parallel regions, which, though of considerable ^elevation,
may be considered relatively as three valleys, since-they
contain the basins of great rivers, which, finding no exit
through the surrounding heights, pour their waters into
inland lakes or seas. M. de Humboldt has observed that
the three regions may be designated, by the names of the
principal lakes and rivers which they contain, as the basins
of Lake Balkash or Balkashi-N6 r, of Lake. Lop, and of
Tene:ri-N6 r.# The former of these receives the waters of
the river Ili and of other less celebrated streams, the
Asia Centrale, 1, page 193.
Ayagpuz, fhevLepsa, and the Ergetou# The banks of the
Ili Were* formerly the1- abode' >of thedJ-sun, a people famous
in xthe his^éry> of fthe ancient nomadic races of Tartary, as
#écorded«by Chinese annalists; ;in whom Klaproth and
AbeBBémusat thought they-recognised the remote ancestors
of the^fenessnf Northern Europe. They Were driven out
of theireeats by the Hieng-n-u, whose remote descendants,
the Kirghfe' KhassakSj now1 feed their herds and wander,
living undertents of felt, over#h#low valleys'and extensive
pastures’with which thlircountry abounds, owning, since
the* conquest of Turkistan by Kien-long, in 1756; a nominal
subjection to tthe <$hlitete iempire.f Towards the southern
margin of this region; a little to the northward of the
Mussur-tagh, which is a spart of the chain of Thian-shan,
whs the famous Pentapolis or Biéh-balig or Five Towns h f
the Ouigour Turks, who obtained at air early period the art
©f witttihg End .some tincture ot NestoriarrChristianity from
Syrian teachers, and were for a^es the. scribes and literati
of Northern Asia.J This valley lies open towards the
west ’and the river Irtish forms ‘ini its north-western exit ,
thVlake of Saïsah; the banks of which were inhabited by
colonies of the same. Ouigours.§ In the central region,
between fhe Thian-shan and th® mörh ^mtherlySohain of
Kuen-lun, are vast plainsidnmany paris of lower elevation.
Here the extensive basin of Lop-nór is filled by the waters
©f the Tarim, thé common channel in which the rivers of
Kash’gar, of Kbotenband Yarkiarig unite their streams.
This country was in early times a famous seat of the worship
of Buddha and of Lamaitic civilisation which is said to
have flourished in Khoten before it reached China or even
Tibet.||-- Tt has been described by Chinese travellers, whose
relations, written during the middle ages, have lately
* Ibid, p. 101.
t Timkouski’s Mission to.China through Mongolia, voh 1, p. 213.
' * Klaproth, — Tijnkouski, 1, p. 217. — Abcl-Rémusat, Récherches sur lés
Langues Tartareeu T.
§ Ahel Rémusat, ibid.
|| Abel-Rémusat, Histoire de la v ile de Khoten, 8vo.
V o l , i v . ' ^ m