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The Continent of Asia: Himalayas

GEOGRAPHY. The interior of Asia consists of two vast elevated plateaus and six great lowland divisions. Between the Altai mountains and of the S. China, and having the Himalayas for its S. and the Khin-Gan mountains for its N.-E. boundary, is the great elevated table-land, almost equal in area to all Europe, which includes Tibet, the Desert of Gobi, and the W. part of the Chinese Empire. The great W. plateau includes Persia, Toorkistan, Armenia, and Asia Minor. Of the lowland plains the largest is that of Siberia, which stretches N. from the Altai mountains to the Arctic Ocean, a cold, bleak, inhospitable country, in many places a desert. The great plains of India from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin; the vast sandy lowlands of the Arabian peninsula; the Indo-Burmahn plain, and the immense stretch of fertile low country which is known as China proper, form the remaining great geographical divisions. The chief rivers are those of China; the Yang-tse-kiang, 3c00 m. long, and only inferior in volume to the Amazon and Mississippi; the Hoang-Ho, Hoang- Kiang, and the Pei-ho. The Siberian system includes the Lena, Obi, and Yenesei, all of great length, but of little present value for navigation, and all falling into the Arctic Ocean. The Brahmapootra and Ganges, with their numerous tributaries, have their sources in the Himalayas or Tibetan highlands, and flow through Bengal into the bay of that name. The Indo-Burmahn system includes the Irrawaddy, Cambodia, Menam and Salwen. The Indus rises in Cashmere, breaks through the Himalayas, and falls into the Arabian Sea near the E. borders of Beluchistan. In Armenia the Tigris and Euphrates take their rise near Mount Ararat, and flow past ancient Mesopotamia, once the garden of the earth, to the Persian Gulf. Arabia is destitute of rivers; lower India has a number of important streams, and aside from those mentioned are the Amoor, which drains Mantchooria an falls into the Sea of Okhotsk, after a course of 2400 m.; and the rivers which water Persia, Beluchistan, and Turkestan, the principal one being the Amoo-Darya and Syr-Darya. The great salt lakes, or inland seas, are the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Aral, and Lake Van. The first of these is the largest body of water in existence entirely enclosed by land. It lies on the frontiers of Russia and Toorkistan, and to the N. of Persia, and 760 m. over. in length by about 270 m. in average breadth, with an area of 180,000 sq. m. It is of great depth, a line of 450 fathoms failing to touch bottom in some parts, and its level is 84 ft. below that of the Black Sea. Although it receives an immense volume of fresh water from the Volga (the largest European river), the Ural, the Kur, and other streams, its waters are salt; less so, however, than the ocean, the average specific gravity being about 1.009. It has no outlet and no tides, but is subject to frequent changes of level. The Sea of Aral, in N. Toorkistan, has many characteristics in common with the Caspian, and it is believed that they were formerly connected. It is 265 m. long by 145 broad, and is said to be 150 ft. (by recent but unconfirmed measurement 250 ft.) above the Caspian, which would give it an average elevation of 166 ft. above the Black Sea. Its depth varies from 15 to 35 fathoms; it is less salt than its larger neighbor, and in winter the N. portion freezes completely

Lake Van, in N. Armenia, 5400 ft. above the level of the sea, has an extent of 1400 sq. m. and is also salt. The great salt lake of Urumiah, in N.-E. Persia, is of considerable size and very salt; as are also Lake Bakhtegan, near Shiraz, and the Dead Sea in Asia Minor. In S. Siberia, in the province of Irkutsk, is Lake Baikal, 400 m. long, and from 13 to 50 m. wide, with an area of 13,000 sq. m., being, next after Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, the largest body of fresh water on the globe. Lake Tenghiz or Balkash, in S.-W. Siberia, has an area of 8000 sq. m.about equal to that of Lake Erie. India, Burmah, and the central upland plateau are destitute of lakes, but there are several of large size in China, the chief being Koko-Nor, Tung-Ting, Po-Yang, and Tei-Ho. In Thibet is the Tengri-Nor Lake, with an area of 2800 sq. m. Although Asia was probably the first inhabited of the great divisions, much of its geography is as yet ill-defined and almost unknown. The great sand desert of Khiva, the still larger and even more arid plains of Central and Southern Arabia, and the immense area of Siberia within the frozen zone, present obstacles to travellers which have never yet been fully overcome, and the capabilities and resources even of Toorkistan and Khorassan are little known to Europeans. It is certain, however, that a million sq. m. in Arabia, a still larger area in Siberia, the immense desert of N.-W. India, and the great sand desert of Gobi, can never be made available for human habitation on any large scale, owing to the want of water and the absence of vegetation. At least one-fifth, possibly one-quarter of the total area of 16,770,000 sq. m. may be set down as unfit for cultivation and incapable of supporting other than a small nomadic population. On the other hand, the alluvial plains of China and India yield luxuriant crops, and maintain a population denser than that of any other country in any part of the world.

CLIMATE. Every variety of climate, from the torrid heat of the equatorial islands, the plains of Hindostan, and the Arabian desert, to the perpetual snows and frozen grounds which repel mankind from the inhospitable shores of the Arctic Ocean, can be found on this continent, which, more than any other, is exposed to excessive differences in temperature.