Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/204

182 the elevation is 13,000 feet above sea-level. The rocks are mostly siliceous slate and felspathic porphyry. There are hardly any cliffs or chasms on the north; water is abundant, and the southern side is beyond comparison more fertile than any part of Northern Tibet that we saw. The soil is sandy, but owing to plentiful moisture the valleys and slopes are well clothed with grass.

Between the Shuga and Baian-kara-ula chains lies a terrible desert 14,500 feet above the level of the sea, for the most part undulating, dotted here and there with groups of hills hardly more than 1,000 feet above the plain.

The only snowy mountains are the Gurbu-naidji (in Tangutan Achiun-gonchik), lying towards the north-west, and which would seem to form the commencement of the Kuen-lun system. For the Mongols say that a continuous succession of mountains extends hence a long way to the west, now rising above and again sinking below the snow-line. In the eastern part of this system, other snowy peaks besides the Gurbu-naidji rise from the groups of Yusun-obo and Tsagan-nir.

The elevated plateau between the Shuga and Baian-kara-ula chains is typical of the deserts of Northern Tibet in general. The climate and natural character of this region are simply awful. The soil is clay mixed with sand or shingle, and almost