Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/231

 bold belt of mountains about seventeen miles wide. The highest peaks are upwards of 8,000, perhaps as much as 9,000 feet, above sea-level, but nowhere attain the limit of perpetual snow. The main axis runs almost through the centre of the width, the descents on either side being steep, and indented with rugged gorges and narrow valleys. The whole range is rocky and of a bold alpine character, especially on its southern side. The rocks are for the most part syenitic granite, common gneiss, hornblende, granolite, porphyry, and the later volcanic formations. The borders are devoid of trees, and only dotted with occasional clumps of wild peach, hazel, and yellow honeysuckle, the same as those we found in the Shara-hada and Suma-hada ranges. As we ascended, however, the bushes grew thicker, and single trees began to appear, as for instance the Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris), and a low kind of elm (Ulmus sp.). About six miles from the outer edge of the range on the northern side (but not more than a mile-and-a-half on the southern side), at an elevation of nearly 5,300 feet, the forests begin, increasing in size and density as you ascend. Here too the trees grow mostly in valleys having a