The Summit Of The Earth

Adolphus Sehlagintweit, the immortal though unpronounceable explorer of Central Asia, calis the highland of Pamir "die Welt-Zinne"- the roof of the world. On the road from Punjaub to Yarkand four passes have to be crossed that are higher than 17,500 feet, and for a distance of 280 miles the halting-ground is not below the height of Pike's Peak. On the eastern plateau of the Beloor-Dagh there is a sbelterhouse near a eliff, from whose summit the main chain of the Himalayas with all its giant peaks and immeasurable ice flelds is in f uil view from highlands of Lassa to the sou rees of the Indus, while in the west the head waters of the Oxus and Jazartes can be traced to the borders of Cabook, where tho peaks of tho Hindoe-Koosh lift their crests of everlasting snow. In spring the echo of the avalanches resembles the boom of continuous thunder, and in midwinter, when the storm-wind sweeps the table land, whirling pillars of snow send aloug the ridges, and often seem to dance together like specters in tlieir fluttering wind-sheets. Our "Land of the Sky" in the Southern Alleghanies must be a mere piazza compared with top-roof of the earth. -