Gobi , (Mongol, a desert), an immense tract of country in central Asia, occupying mainly the table land between the Altai mountains on the north and the Kuenlun on the south, between lat. 37° and 50° N., and Ion. 80° and 120° E. It is about 1,800 m. long, with an average breadth of nearly 350 m., though in some parts it is much greater; area, about 600,000 sq. m. It is divided into two nearly equal parts, the western being comprehended in Turkistan, the eastern in Mongolia, a small part being in the Chinese province of Kansu, and reaching to the Chinese wall. Of the western part little is known; the surface consists mainly of fine loose sand, which is drifted about by the winds, and sand storms are of frequent occurrence. It is drained by the Yarkand or Daria, which falls into Lake Lob; this lake has no outlet, and is consequently brackish. Similar salt lakes are numerous throughout the desert; and upon these and the rivers which flow into them the Tartars pitch their tents and raise their cattle. The eastern part is somewhat better known; there are a few fertile valleys and some towns; but a large part; called by the Chinese Shamo, or the Sand sea, is a plain 2,500 to 3,000 ft. above the sea, covered with gravel and small stones.

Pasturage is the usual occupation of the Mongolians, who lead a nomadic life in the mountain fringes of E. Gobi. It is drained toward the east by the head waters of the Amoor, which falls into the sea of Okhotsk, and toward the north by the Selenga, which, bursting through the Altai range, falls into Lake Baikal. The climate of the entire desert is intensely cold during the winter, which lasts nine months. - See Atkinson's "Explorations in Siberia, Mongolia," etc. (1857).