Dec. 12, 1859.J PURDON'S SURVKY OF THE VALLEY OF KASHMIR. 31 

 The Papers read were — 



1. On the Trigonometrical Survey and Physical Configuration of the Valley 

 of Kashmir. By William H. Purdon, Esq., f.r.g.s., Executive Engi- 

 neer, Punjab. 



Communicated by Sir Charles Wood, Bart., m.p., f.r.g.s., India OflSce. 



The valley of Kashmir is somewhat of an oval form, 89 miles long, 

 from 10 to 35 in width, and upwards of 5000 feet above the sea. 

 It is surrounded by a magnificent Cordillera of mountains, snow 

 clad during eight months of the year, whose highest ridge is 

 usually from 10 to 20 miles from their bases. The monarch of all 

 of them is the bare mass of the Diarmal ; no snow can cling to it 

 on account of the steepness of its sides; it rises to 26,629 feet 

 above the sea, and forms the culminating point of a vast mountain 

 mass which exceeds 20,000 feet in height in a radius of 15 miles 

 around it. It is 900 miles distant from the great Mount Everest, 

 and lies on the range of the true Himalaya, that, even in this 

 latitude, asserts its great superiority over all other mountain ranges 

 in the world. 



The defile by which the river, that drains the valley of Kashmir, 

 finds its exit, is also on the grandest scale. The chain of the Hima- 

 laya is there cleft by a great chasm, whose almost perpendicular sides 

 are 7000 feet in depth. The bottom of the chasm is wholly occupied 

 by the river ; its entire volume being constricted to a width of only 

 70 feet in one place, and its waters gliding, for 10 miles, with 

 astonishing velocity, in an unbroken stream. After this point the 

 river becomes a succession of rapids and a sheet of foam, forming a 

 fine contrast to the dark forests of oaks, planes, and cedars, which 

 here clothe its banks to the very edge of the waters. It is probable 

 that these cedar forests furnished the fleet of Nearchus upwards of 

 twenty centuries ago ; and it is from them that the Punjab still 

 obtains its chief supply of this almost imperishable timber. 



Mr. Purdon describes at considerable length the history and the 

 geological features of the valley of Kashmir, and he dwells upon the 

 difficulties, the importance, and the magnitude of the operations of 

 the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. 



The Chairman said that, in the paper, a portion of which had been read, 

 the writer had embraced many things which went far beyond the mere descrip- 

 tion of the very beautiful map suspended upon the wall, and made special and 

 most useful reference to the geology of the region he was describing. The 

 map which represented the physical features of the country was worthy of 

 very special attention. It had been constructed under the direction of Colonel 

 Waugh by Captain Montgomerie, and one of the most active persons in its 

 compilation, besides Mr. Purdon, was his young friend Captain Godwin Austen. 



