Lofty Regions of the Globe 11 



ing the Jungfrau (4170 meters) upon Monte Rosa (4640 meters) ; 

 it is more than seven times the height of Vesuvius (1190 meters). 

 Also in Nepal, Jangmar (7930 meters), Djibjibia (8020 meters), 

 Jassa (8135 meters), Marschiadi (8080 meters), Barathor (7950 

 meters) , and finally Dawalaghiri (8185 meters) , long considered 

 the highest of all, but now known to be surpassed by Guarisankar. 



Then the Himalayan chain opens to allow the passage of the 

 Setledj, which carries to the Indus the waters of the northern 

 slope and those of the sacred lake of Manasarovar (4650 meters) . 

 Beyond, it ends in the extraordinary maze of the mountains of 

 Cashmere, in the midst of which opens the delightful valley of 

 Srinagar, the "earthly paradise" of the Hindus. 



At their eastern end, the Himalayas are joined to the Langtan 

 Mountains, the heart of chains of relatively moderate height, which 

 form the high relief of China and Indo-China. 



The Himalayas thus form, on their southern slope, the gigantic 

 talus of a high mountain plateau, as it were. This is Tibet, which 

 over an immense extent rises above 3000 meters, and whose waters, 

 collected in the Brahmapoutra, flow first towards the east, then, 

 encountering the mountains of China, turn to the southwest, to 

 join those of the Ganges. On the north, this plateau is bounded 

 by the chain of Kuen-Loun; its western extremity is traversed 

 by the chain of Karakorum, the summits of which rival those of 

 the Himalayas, such as Dapsang (8620 meters), Diamer (8130 

 meters) , and Gusherbrum (8040 meters) . 



Passes, the elevation of which naturally increases as the highest 

 ridges are approached, permit a crossing of the foothills of these 

 principal chains, and finally of the chains themselves. Many of 

 these passes, which are much travelled, are at a height of more 

 than 5000 meters; the famous pass of Karakorum is 5650 meters 

 high; the Yangi-Diwan Pass, one of the routes from Cashmere to 

 Khotan across the Kuen-Loun chain, is 5820 meters high; the high- 

 est ,; of all in the British Empire, the pass of Parang, has an eleva- 

 tion of 5835 meters. 



The traveler who climbs the steps of this sort of gigantic stair- 

 way descends between them much less than he has ascended; thus 

 he reaches a vast desolate plateau; this is the Pamir (visited in 

 the thirteenth century by Marco Polo), or the Bam-i-Dunya, that 

 is, the roof of the world, whose average altitude is more than 4500 

 meters. On the east, this roof slopes down to the lofty plains of 

 upper Tartary, and its waters, through the river Tarim, are lost in 



