Przhevalsky, 1879
This classic account is that of Nikolai Przhevalsky, who crossed the desert from Hami (or Khumul) to Suchow in the summer of 1879.
The middle of the desert rises into a plateau 80 miles (130 km) across, which reaches an average elevation of 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and a maximum elevation of 5,500 feet (1,700 m). On its northern and southern borders it is overtopped by two divisions of the Bey-san (Pe-shan) Mountains, which are isolated hills or groups of hills only a few hundred feet higher than the plateau. They are separated from the Kuruk-tagh by a well-marked bay of the former Central Asian Mediterranean (Lop Nur).
Between the northern division and the Karlyk-tagh range (or east Tian Shan), there is an undulating barren plain, 3,900 feet (1,200 m) in altitude and 40 miles (64 km) from north to south, sloping downwards from both north and south towards the middle, where lies the oasis of Hami (2,800 ft). Similarly, from the southern division of the Bey-san, a second plain slopes down for 1,000 feet (300 m) to the valley of the river Bulunzir (or Su-lai-ho), which comes out of China, from the south side of the Great Wall, and finally empties itself into the lake of Kalachi (or Kara-nor). From the Bulunzir the same plain continues southwards at a level of 3,700 feet (1,100 m) to the foot of the Nan-shan Mountains. The total breadth of the desert here, from north to south, is 200 miles (320 km).
Its general character is that of an undulating plain, dotted over with occasional elevations of clay, which present the appearance of walls, table-topped mounds and broken towers (jardangs), the surface of the plain being strewn with gravel and destitute of vegetation. The swelling or undulating plain between these two ranges of the Bey-san measures about 70 miles (110 km) across and is traversed by several stretches of high ground having generally an east-west direction.
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