Note B — Chapter IX · THE TATAR INVASIONS—1224-1264.
Reading edition
A table land of Central Asia, called by those who dwell upon it “the roof of the world.” It touches the Hindoo-Koosh Mountains, and Lake Siri-Kol, the source of the Oxus, on the south. The plateau is 16,000 feet above the sea level, and is the water-shed of the continent. The climate is severe, and the population sparse.