Abstract
THE following message from Col. Prjevalsky, dated Lob Nor, March 15 (probably O. S.), is published in the Invalide Russe:— “During the last autumn and winter we visited Eastern Zaidam as far as Lob Nor. The middle range of the Kuen Lun, hitherto unknown, has been examined with sufficient care. The ancient route leading from Khoten to China has been found and thoroughly explored. We have also discovered three enormous snow peaks, to which we have given the names of Muscovite, Columbus, and Enigmatical. The most elevated point of the first-named is Mount Kremlin, of the second Mount Djinri, and of the third the Crown of Monomachus, which are all of a higher elevation than 20,000 feet above the sea. The Thibetan plateau, skirting the middle Kuen Lun, has an average height of 4000 feet. No inhabitants were met with except in the Southern Zaidam. Further to the west the flora and fauna of the desert are extremely poor. In the month of December the cold was so intense that the mercury froze. We passed the month of February and the first fortnight of March at Lob Nor. We are just about to set out again, with the intention of crossing Cherchen, for the purpose of reaching Kiria, in the district of Khoten. During the three months of summer we shall traverse Northern Thibet, if the Chinese do not oppose us, and in the autumn we shall return to our own Turkestan. We are all in good health.”
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Geographical Notes . Nature 32, 63–64 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032063a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032063a0