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0042 The Pulse of Asia : vol.1
アジアの鼓動 : vol.1
The Pulse of Asia : vol.1 / 42 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000233
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east, Central Asia is largely a country of deserts. It is po-
litically divided into the countries of Persia, Afghanistan,
Baluchistan, northern India, Tibet, China, and Asiatic
Russia. It varies in elevation from the low depression of
the Caspian Sea and the small basin of Turfan, lying
three hundred feet below sea-level in the very heart of
Asia, to the plateaus of Tian Shan, Tibet, and the Pamirs
at an elevation of from 10,000 to 20,000 feet above the
sea. Although usually the mountainous parts are com-
paratively rainy and are often well covered with vegeta-
tion, the lowlands, which comprise most of the country, are
intensely dry and almost absolutely desert. The people are
equally varied, the fierce Afghan being as different from
the sycophant Persian, as is the truculent Mongol from
the mild Chanto of Chinese Turkestan. Yet in spite of all
this, not only the physical features of the country, but the
habits and character of its inhabitants, possess a distinct
unity; for all alike bear the impress of an arid climate.
Central Asia, more fully perhaps than any other part of
the world, exemplifies the great geographic type in which
the topography, vegetation, animal life, and human civili-
zation have developed along the lines characteristic of
prolonged aridity. We all know something of arid countries,
empirically or from observation. We need, however, a
more general concept, so that the term "arid" shall bring
to mind the essential features of a definite geographic type,
just as the term "bovine" brings to mind the spreading
horns, large eyes, heavy body, cloven hoofs, cud, and other
essential features of a definite zoölogic type. If once the
geographic type is well understood in its highly developed