Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/150

ASIA. Paropamisus, in Afghanistan, by the Elburz in northern Persia, with Demavend (about 18.500 feet), by the mountains of Armenia (culminat- ing in Mount Ararat ), and by the Taurus Range !ind other mountains of Asia Minor, forms a fairly continuous line of ranges to the shore of the ^Egean Sea. North of it, in southwestern Siberia and western Turkestan, is a depressed area, in some places below sea-level, which is drained into the Aral and Caspian seas. The Krcat plateavi of which these ranges form the back-bone consists of three sections. To the south of the Elburz Range and the Paropamisus, is the great plateau of Iran, in Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. West of this is the Median- Armenian Alpine region, some of whose plateaus are at elevations of over 6000 feet. Beyond this the plateau formation extends westward in the Anatolian table-land. The western plateau of Asia, thus divided into three sections, is full of diversities of soil and scenery. A great part of the table-land of Iran is extremely barren and arid, which serves to explain the enthusiastic terms in which the Persian poets have spoken of the beautiful valleys found here and tlunc among the mountains. The coasts of the Persian Gulf are sandy wastes. A great part of Baluchistan also is an arid plain, covered with red sand.

Besides these central elevated land masses, there are many detached iuointain chains and plateaus. The'Urnl ilountains, forming in part the land boundary between Europe and Asia, are divided into three sections — the northern, cen- tral, and southern Ural. The .second of these divisions is rich in minerals, gold, platinum, magnetic iron, and copper. On the isthnnis be- tween the Black Sea and the Caspian, the Al- pine ridges of the Oauca.sus reach a liciglit of 10.000 to 11,000 feet, while individual jieaks tower up to 17,000 and 18.000 feet, as in the still faintlv volcanic peak of Elbruz. 18..'500 feet, and Kazbek, 16,500 feet: both of these peaks are, however, on the northern or European side of the main mass of the Caucasus. The high- lands of Syria rise gradually from the neighbor- ing deserts in the ranges known as the Lebanon and Antilibanus to heights respectively of over 10.000 and 9000 feet, and slope steeply in terraces down to the narrow coast lands of Phoenicia and Palestine. The peninsula of Arabia is a table- land of moderate height, continvious with the Syrian desert, and bordered by low mountain ranges. In the extreme south the mountains attain an elevation of nearly 8000 feet. Arabia is separated from the Armenian plateau on the north bv the valleys of the Tigris and l';u))liratcs. Most o'f its area "is desert, but in the interior the plateau reaches an elevation sufficient to induce enough rainfall for the cultivation of crops: this is, therefore, the populated region. South of the Ilimala.vas, at the head of the peninsula of India, is a depression drained on the east by the Ganges, and on the west by the Indus. The Ganges Valley is the densely popu- lated region of India. East of the Lower Indus is the desert of Sindh. Farther south on the peninsula is the plateau of the Deccan. which rises to an average height of from 1500 to 2000 feet. It is separated on the west from the nar- row coast-level of Malabar by the Western Ghats: on the east, from the brnad level <'oast of Coromandel, by the Eastern Ghats; on the north It is separated from the low plains of Hindustan by the Vindhya and Mahva moun- tain chains; and on the .south the Ghats unite at the sources of the Kaveri forming the Nilgiri, or Blue Mountains, 87(iO feet high, the loftiest chain in the peninsular portion of India. Burma and Assam are crossed by luimerous mountain groups, which extend in i)rokcn lines from the interior of Tibet to the extremity of the Malay Peninsula. China Proper and Frencli Indo-China have moinitainous interiors, while the whole eastern coast-line of Asia from Korea northward is paralleled by lines of higlilands. The Japanese Archipelago may be regarded as a submei-ged mountain chain rising from the im- mense depths of the Pacific aiul reaching with the Kurile Islands northward to Kamcluitka. The chain is crowned by niunerous volcanic cones, and throughout its extent earthquakes and seis- )nic disturbances are frequent phenomena. HYDROtiK.PHY. The hydrograpliy of Asia dis- plays as striking a variety as does the structure of its land surface. The Asiatic Alpine regions send down, in some directions, torrents of water, which form rivers almost rivaling in magnificence those of America, and which How for hmidreds of miles through plains of unsurpassed fertilitj'. On the other hand, there are wide-stretclung tracts similar to the deserts of northern Africa, and of equal sterility.

The seven great river systems of Asia are: the Mesopotamian, that of northwest India, that of northeast India and Tibet, the Indo-Chinese, the Chinese, the Siberian, and that of the Kir- ghiz steppe and Rtissian Turkestan. The first comprises the two famous streams, the Tigris and Euphrates, flowing into the Persian Gulf; the second comprises the Indus with its tribu- taries; the third system comjirises the Brah- maputra and Ganges: the fourth comprises the rivers of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, the chief of which are the Irrawaddy, the Sahven, the Menam, and the Mekong; the fifth system is i the Chinese, comprising four great streams, all of which flow in an eastern or northeastern direction into the Pacific — the Si-Kiang, the Yang-tse-Kiang, the Hoang-ho, and the Amur; the sixth .system comprises the large rivers of Silieria, the principal of which are the Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena — all have their source in the ranges bordering Siberia on the south and flow northward, traversing the great plain for eight or nine hundred miles before their sluggish waters reach the Frozen Sea: the seventh sys- , tem comprises the Ural, wdiich flows into the i Caspian Sea, and several other inland rivers, in- cliuliug the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, flow- ing into the Aral Sea, the Hi, which flows into Lake Balkash, and the Tchui.

Asia is deficient in lakes. At the base of the ranges limiting Siberia on the south, are, how- ever, .several of magnitude, among them Baikal, Balkash, and Issiknl. Farther west, in the de- pression east of the Caucasus, are the Aral and Caspian seas, which have no outlet ; the Caspian Sea is 85 feet below the level of the sea. In Syria is the Dead Sea, occupying with its val- ley a deep depression, the surface of the lake being about 1300 feet below sea-level. In the Armenian Jloimtains are lakes Van andUrumiah, lying at great elevations and having no outlets. In Tibet and the Desert of Gobi lakes without outlets are numerous, since, owing to arid condi- tions, drainage systems are not yet developed. A