Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/329

 as we have said, about ten miles from the town of Din-yuan-ing, and form the boundary between Ala-shan and the province of Kan-su. The whole range is known under the name of Ala-shan. It rises from the very shore of the Hoang-ho, opposite to where the Arbus-ula mountains in Ordos abut on the river, i.e. about fifty-five miles south of the town of Ding-hu. From this point the range we are describing extends, from north to south, along the left bank of the River, from which it gradually diverges. The total length of the whole range, according to the Mongols, is about 150 miles, but its width is very inconsiderable, and about the centre does not exceed seventeen miles. These mountains, however, rise abruptly from the valley, and are wild and alpine in character, especially on their eastern slopes, which are girt with enormous perpendicular cliffs, 700 to 800 feet in height, and seamed with deep valleys, in fact are marked with all the features of wild alpine scenery. No solitary peaks tower above the chief axis of the range the highest points of which are Bayan Tsumbur and Bugutui, about its centre. The former of these mountains is 10,600 feet high, the latter about 1,000 feet higher. But between these two mountains the range subsides sufficiently to allow of a pass, the only one across it, by which the road leads to the large Chinese town of Ning-hia-fu.

Notwithstanding their height, the mountains of Ala-shan nowhere attain the limit of perpetual snow.