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Show 84 STEPPES AND DESERTS. meridian of Lake Baikal. The divisions and names of the "Great" and the "Little Altai," taken from an obscure passage of Abulghasl., are to be altogether avoided. (Asie Centrale, t. i. p. 247.) The mountain system of the Altai comprehends (a) the Altai proper, or Kolywanski Altai, the whole of which is under the Russian sceptre j it is west of the transverse opening of the Telezki Lake, which follows the direction of the meridian j and in ante-historic times probably formed the eastern shore of the great arm of the sea, by which, in the direction of the still existing groups of lakes, Aksakal-Barbi and Sary-Kupa (Asie Centrale, t. ii. p. 138), the Aralo-Caspian basin was connected with the Icy Sea:-(b) East of the Telezki chain which follows the direction of the meridian, the Sayani, Tangnu, and Ulangom or Malakha chains, all running tolerably parallel with each other, and in an east and west direction. The Tangnu, which sinks down and terminates in the basin of the Selenga, has from very ancient times formed a boundary between the Turkish race to the south, and the Kirghis (Hakas, identical with ~axa•) in the north. (Jacob Grim, Gesch. der deutsehen Spraehe, 1848, th. i. s. 227.) It is the original seat of the Samoieds or Soyotes, who wandered as far as the Icy Sea, and who were long regarded in Europe as a nation belonging exclusively to the coasts of the Polar Sea. The highest snow-clad summits of the Altai of Kolywan are the Bielucha and the Katunia-Pillars. The height of the latter is about that of Etna. The Dam·ian highland, to which the mountain knot of Kemtei belongs, and on the eartern side of which is the Jablonoi Chrebet, divides the depressions of the Baikal and the Amur. 2. The mountain system of the Thian-schan, or Celestial Mountains, the Tengri-tagh of the Turks (Tukiu) and of the kindred race of the Hiongnu, is eight times as long, in an east and west direction, as the Pyrenees. Beyoud-i. e. west of its intersection with the transverse or north and south chain of the Bolor and Kosuyrt, the Thian-schan bears the names of Asferah and Aktagh, is rich in metals, and has open fissures, which emit hot vapors, luminous at night, and which are used for obtaining sal-ammoniac. (Asie Centrale, t. ii. pp. 18-20.) East of the transverse Bolor and Kosyurt chain, there follow su~cessively in the Thian-schan-the Kashgar |