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Rh individually the biggest; whereas the Upper Astin-tagh exceeds the Lower Astin-tagh by an altitude of some 1350 ft., it is itself exceeded by the Akato-tagh to the extent of 1760 ft. There is also a considerable rise of 880 ft. from the Akato-tagh to the Chimen-tagh. But between the Chimen-tagh, the Ara-tagh and the Kalta-alaghan there is comparatively little difference in point of elevation, namely, 730 ft. in all. The biggest ascent is that from the Kalta-alaghan to the Arka-tagh, namely, nearly 1850 ft. The ranges of the Arka-tagh, again, run at pretty nearly the same absolute general altitudes, namely, 16,470 to 17,260 ft. When the altitudes of the intermont latitudinal valleys are compared, the significance orographically of the Chimen valley and of the Kum-kol valley is strikingly emphasized. Both are much more deeply excavated than all the other latitudinal valleys that run parallel to them, the Chimen valley being 875 ft. above the valley to the north of it, but no less than 2235 ft. below the valley to the south of it. The case of the Kum-kol valley is altogether exceptional, for it lies not higher, but 680 ft. lower, than the valley to the north of it, and consequently the climb up out of it to the first (on north) of the Arka-tagh valleys amounts to no less than 2900 ft. Hence these ten parallel ranges of the middle Kuen-lun system may be grouped in three divisions—(1) the more strictly border ranges of the Upper and Lower Astin-tagh and the Akato-tagh; (2) the three ranges of Chimen-tagh, Ara-tagh and Kalta-alaghan, which may be considered as forming a transitional system between the foregoing and the third division; (3) the Arka-tagh, which constitute the elevated rampart of the Tibetan plateau proper.

The Nan-shan Highlands overlook Tsaidam on the N.E. They embrace a region 380 m. long and 260 m. wide, entirely occupied with parallel mountain ranges all running from the N.W. to the S.E. Broad, flat, longitudinal valleys, at altitudes of 12,000 to 14,000 ft. (9000 to 10,000 at the south-western border) and dotted with lakes (Koko-nor, 9970 ft.; Khara-nor, 13,285 ft.), fill up the space between these mountain ranges. In the S.E. the Nan-shan highlands abut upon the highlands of the Chinese province of Kan-suh, and near the great northward bend of the Hwang-ho they meet the escarpments by which the Great Khingan and the In-shan ranges are continued, and by which the Mongolian plateau steps down to the lowlands of China. On the N.E. the Nan-shan highlands have their foot on the Mongolian plateau (average altitude, 4000 ft.), i.e. in the Ala-shan. On the N.W. they are fringed by a border range, the Da-sue-shan, a continuation of the Astin-tagh, which rises to 12,200–13,000 ft. in its passes, and is pierced by several rivers flowing west to Lake Khala-chi or Khara-nor. This border-range, which continues on to the 97th meridian, separates the Nan-shan range from the Pe-shan range.

On the S.W. the Nan-shan mountains consist of short irregular chains, separated by broad plains, dotted with lakes, which differ but slightly in altitude from Tsaidam (8800–9000 ft.). Next a succession of narrow ranges intervene between this lower border terrace and the higher terrace (12,000–13,500 ft.). The first mountain range on this higher terrace is Ritter’s range, covered in part with extensive snow-fields. The passes at both ends of this snow-clad massif lie at altitudes of 15,990 ft. and 14,680 ft. The next range is Humboldt or Ama-surgu range, which runs N.W. to S.E. from the Astin-tagh to about 38° N., and is perhaps continued by the southern Kuku (Koko)-nor range, which strikes the Hwang-ho with an elevation of 7440 ft. It includes, in fact, several other parallel ranges—e.g. the Mushketov, Semenov, Suess, Alexander III., Bain-sarlyk—the mutual relations of which are, however, not yet definitely settled.

Small lateral chains of mountains, rising some 2000 ft. above the general level of that plateau, connect the central Nan-shan with the next parallel ranges, namely, those of the eastern Nan-shan. The mutual relations of the latter, as well as the names of the several constituent chains, are equally unsettled. Thus, one of them is named indiscriminately Nan-shan, Richthofen Range and Momo-shan. In fact, the region is dominated by three ranges of nearly equal altitude, all lifting many of their peaks above the snow-line. Finally, there is a range of mountains, about 10,000 ft. high, named Lung-shan by Obruchev, which borders the Kan-chow and Lian-chow valley on the N.E., and belongs to the Nan-shan system. But the string of oases in Kan-suh province, which stretches between the towns named, lies on the lower level of the Mongolian plateau (4000 to 5000 ft.), so that the Lung-shan ought possibly to be regarded as a continuation of the Pe-shan mountains of the Gobi.

Generally speaking, the Nan-shan highlands are a region raised 12,000 to 14,000 ft. above the sea, and intersected by wild, stony and partly snow-clad mountains, towering another 4000 to 7000 ft. above its surface, and arranged in narrow parallel chains all running N.W. to S.E. The chains of mountains are severally from 8 to 17 m. wide, seldom as much as 35, while the broad, flat valleys between them attain widths of 20 to 27 m. As a rule the passes are at an altitude of 12,000 to 14,000 ft., and the peaks reach 18,000 to 20,000 ft. in the western portion of the highlands, while in the eastern portion they may be about 2000 ft. lower. The glaciers also attain a greater development in the western portion of the Nan-shan, but the valleys are dry, and the slopes of both the mountains and the valleys, furrowed by deep ravines, are devoid of vegetation. Good pasture grounds are only found near the streams. The soil is dry gravel and clay, upon which bushes of Ephedra, Nitraria and Salsolaceae grow sparsely. In the north-eastern Nan-shan, on the contrary, a stream runs through each gorge, and both the mountain slopes and the bottoms of the valleys are covered with vegetation. Forests of conifers (Picea obovata) and deciduous trees—Przhevalsky’s poplar, birch, mountain ash, &c., and a variety of bushes—are common everywhere. Higher up, in the picturesque gorges, grow rhododendrons, willows, Potentilla fruticosa, Spriaeae, Lonicereae, &c., and the rains must evidently be more copious and better distributed. In the central Nan-shan it is only the north-eastern slopes that bear forests. In the south, where the Nan-shan enters Kan-suh province, extensive accumulations of loess make their appearance, and it is only the northern slopes of the hills that are clothed with trees.

.—An enumeration of the works published before 1890, and a map of itineraries, will be found in Wegener’s Versuch einer Orographie des Kuen-lun (Marburg, 1891), but his map is only approximately correct. Of the books published since 1890 the most important are Sven Hedin’s Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899–1902 (Stockholm, 1905–1907, 6 vols.), with an elaborate atlas and a general map of Tibet on the scale of 1 : 1,000,000; H. H. P. Deasy’s In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan (London, 1901), with a good map; F. Grenard’s vol. (iii.) of J. L. Dutreuil de Rhins’s Mission scientifique dans la haute Asie, 1890–1895 (n.p., 1897), also with a very useful map; W. W. Rockhill’s Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet in 1891 and 1892 (Washington, 1894); M. S. Wellby’s Through Unknown Tibet (London, 1898); P. G. Bonvalot’s De Paris au Tonkin à travers le Tibet inconnu (Paris, 1892); St G. R. Littledale’s “A Journey across Tibet,” in ''Geog. Journal (May 1896); H. Bower’s Diary of a Journey across Tibet (London, 1894); the Izvestia'' of the Russian Geog. Soc. and ''Geog. Journal, both passim''.

KUFA, a Moslem city, situated on the shore of the Hindieh canal, about 4 m. E. by N. of Nejef (32° 4′ N., 44° 20′ E.), was founded by the Arabs after the battle of Kadesiya in 638 as one of the two capitals of the new territory of Irak, the whole country being divided into the sawads, or districts, of Basra and Kufa. The caliph ‛Ali made it his residence and the capital of his caliphate. After the removal of the capital to Bagdad, in the middle of the following century, Kufa lost its importance and began to fall into decay. At the beginning of the 19th century, travellers reported extensive and important ruins as marking the ancient site. Since that time the ruins have served as quarries for bricks for the building of Nejef, and at the present time little remains but holes in the ground, representing excavations for bricks, with broken fragments of brick and glass strewn over a considerable area. A mosque still stands on the spot where ‛Ali is reputed to have worshipped. (For history see .)

KUHN, FRANZ FELIX ADALBERT (1812–1881), German philologist and folklorist, was born at Königsberg in Neumark on the 19th of November 1812. From 1841 he was connected with the Köllnisches Gymnasium at Berlin, of which he was appointed director in 1870. He died at Berlin on the 5th of May 1881. Kuhn was the founder of a new school of comparative mythology, based upon comparative philology. Inspired by Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, he first devoted himself to German stories and legends, and published Märkische Sagen und Märchen (1842), Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (1848), and Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (1859). But it is on his researches into the language and history of the Indo-Germanic peoples as a whole that his reputation is founded. His chief works in this connexion are: Zur ältesten Geschichte der Indogermanischen Völker (1845), in which he endeavoured to give an account of the earliest civilization of the Indo-Germanic peoples before their separation into different families, by comparing and analysing the original meaning of the words and stems common to the different languages; Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks (1859; new ed. by E. Kuhn, under title of Mythologische Studien, 1886); and Über Entwicklungsstufen der Mythenbildung (1873), in which he maintained that the origin of myths was to be looked for in the domain of language, and that their most essential factors were polyonymy and homonymy. The Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der Indogermanischen Sprachen, with which he was intimately connected, is the standard periodical on the subject.

See obituary notice by C. Bruchmann in Bursian’s Biographisches Jahrbuch (1881) and J. Schmidt in the above Zeitschrift, xxvi. n.s. 6.