of mountains are physically distinct from the In-shan proper, of which they are not, strictly speaking, a continuation, other and much smaller mountains supplying the connecting links of the chain; this interruption is particularly marked between the Sheiten-ula and Kara-narin-ula.[1] Moreover, the former is a much lower range than the In-shan, besides being less thickly wooded and not so plentifully watered. Again, the mountains which lie beyond the Haliutai river, although of considerable elevation and completely alpine in character, are also unwooded and form a marginal range, having on one side the valley of the Hoang-ho, on the other a lofty table-land.
We entered the In-shan by that part called by the Mongols Sirun-bulik, and I cannot describe the pleasure we felt, after marching for so long a time over bleak, cheerless plains, to see wooded mountains, and to rest under the shade of green trees. We started that day for the chase, and climbing to the summit of a high peak we caught our first glimpse of the Yellow River winding through the great plains of Ordos.
- ↑ In my letter (see Proc. Imp. Russ. Geog. Soc, viii. 5. 174), I said that the range on the left bank of the Hoang-ho from the Haliutai river to the borders of Ala-shan, 'was neither connected with the In-shan nor with the Ala-shan mountain systems.' On a closer investigation of these localities in the spring of 1872, I found that there actually is a connection between the Kara-narin-ula and the Sheiten-ula by means of a row of hillocks. The Sheiten-ula are in their turn united with the In-shan proper by the Shohoin-daban (i.e. limestone range). But there cannot be the slightest doubt of the independence of all these groups of mountains from the Ala-shan system.
