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Dzungaria

The name Dzungaria / Zhungaria / Zungaria / Jungaria / Soungarra / Songarea / Soundarea / Soundarya / Songara means "on the left hand", the situation of Dzungaria in respect to China Proper. The name Dzungaria suggests that the local inhabitants are Dzungars, whereas Dzungars no longer exist; the name remains, for no other title can be found for this odd corner of Inner Asia. Dzungaria does not belong to Chinese Turkestan — from which it is separated by a giant wall of mountains; it is not Mongolian — for the Altai Mountains form a boundary between the two countries; and, although it merges into the Gobi Desert on the east and into Southern Siberia on the west, it has nothing in common with either of those regions.

"Dzungaria" originated from the name of a small branch of a Mongol tribe, and when that branch became powerful and built up an empire, the name was extended to the whole confederation of tribes which that empire embraced. The original territory of the Dzungars was of much greater dimensions than the area to which their name is now applied; but the site of the present-day Dzungaria always formed the centre of the Dzungar dominions.

Although the name Dzungaria originally denoted a tribal area, it happened also to include a region remarkably well defined by natural boundaries; thus "Dzungaria" now represents a purely topographical division, standing apart and distinct from the surrounding regions. The chief peculiarity of Dzungaria is its character as a mountain-locked basin, the position of its encircling ranges, in respect to the Siberian plains and the prevailing moisture-laden winds, making Dzungaria subject to phenomenal climatic conditions. The ranges surrounding Dzungaria are peculiarly situated in comparison with other mountainous regions of Inner Asia, for all these ranges, whether in the north, south, or west, appear to exercise a positive, and not a negative, influence (as is the case with so many of the ranges in Central Asia) on the country lying between them. The Tian Shan, for instance, receives a heavy rainfall on its northern flank, which produces pine-forests and pastures, while the southern side of the watershed is a veritable abomination of desolation. This chain of mountains supplies Southern Dzungaria with refreshing summer rains, but at the same time minimizes the precipitation on its southern flank in Chinese Turkestan.

The Dzungaria of the Manchu Empire embraced the whole of the inter-Altai-Tian Shan region, and was bordered by Mongolia on the east and Southern Siberia on the west. The land, as a whole, is lowland as compared with the rest of Mongolia, and forms part of the Siberian plains rather than of the Central Asian tableland. Yet, on the other hand, Dzungaria has the character of an inclined plain with a long and gentle ascent from the plains of Siberia to the plateau of Mongolia. The average altitude of the floor of this plain is about 1,500 ft. above sea-level; in the west the level drops to 700 feet and in the east, where it merges into the Gobi Desert, rises to 2,500 ft. Of a total area of 147,000 square miles, about two-thirds consists of plain, the remaining portion being composed of mountain-ranges, situated like a wall around the central basin, and forming in themselves a natural frontier against Mongolia, Siberia, Chinese and Russian Turkestan.

The plains of Dzungaria are of a complex character. For the most part they are composed of hard, dry steppe covered with a scanty growth of saxaul and tamarisk; but this is varied by large areas of saline desert and sanddunes. The rivers descending into the plain from the border-ranges,—with the exception of the Manas River, —do not run far before sinking below the surface, thereby forbidding the employment of irrigation methods and causing the interior to remain arid and unproductive. In consequence, a certain portion of this region can never be of economic value, while the remainder, which is either reached by water or can be brought within its reach, presents itself as a suitable country for future expansion, although it is not yet utilized to any great extent. Nomad life, however, is not entirely absent from these regions, for even the sand-dunes supply a little pasture, and this is used by the shepherds in winter. In summer the inner deserts are destitute of human life, and even the explorer will find them most tedious to traverse, owing to their soft, salt-encrusted surface, the lack of water, and the great heat. No one but a "Mongol, a misanthrope, or a madman" would venture into Central Dzungaria in midsummer.

The border-ranges are the life of Dzungaria; they supply the pasture for the nomads, and the water for the agriculturists; they,—together with the warm zone of country lying at the foot of the mountains, between them and the deserts,—compose the whole of inhabited Dzungaria. In comparison with the deserts, the surrounding highlands are paradises of wealth and beauty. Well-named, indeed, is the southern border-range—the Tian Shan—or Heavenly Mountains. This giant range, together with its continuation—the Bogdo-ola and the Karlik Tagh—runs the whole length of Southern Dzungaria. A continuous line of ice-peaks and untrodden snow-fields lift themselves in exultation above the dusty plain, and send down their melting waters to supply the colonists with all they need to turn their lands to good account. The southern wall of Dzungaria is almost unbroken. In a length of eight hundred miles there are only two passes suitable for wheeled traffic; one, leading over into Chinese Turkestan,—the Dabachin, situated to the south of Urumchi at the junction of the Tian Shan and Bogdo-ola, and the other, a nameless pass between Tou-shui and Ta-shih-tu which leads over the plateau between the Bogdo-ola and Barkul ranges. One other pass alone—the Talki—permits free intercourse between Dzungaria and the Hi Valley.

The second range of importance, which affects the welfare of Dzungaria, is the Altai. For a distance of four hundred miles these mountains form a frontier between Dzungaria and Mongolia, and supply not only immense pastures for nomads, but facilities for agriculture, and rivers which form a water-way to Siberia. The Mongolian Altai is the north-eastern border-range; it abuts on the Russian frontier on the one hand, and stretches out into the Gobi Desert on the other.