INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 117 



of Cambay to the Ganges, 3. The Arawali mountains, ex- 

 tending from Hansi and Delhi to Gujerat. 



1 . The Peninsular chain is the most important of these ; 

 it forms a continuous watershed, throughout its length of 

 upwards of nine hundred miles, scarcely deviating from a 

 straight line, which is parallel and close to the west coast of 

 the Peninsula, and perpendicular to the direction of the mon- 

 soons. This chain divides the Peninsula unequally into two 

 portions, marked by different climates, — a narrow western one, 

 including the provinces of Malabar and the Concan ; and a 

 broad eastern one, traversed consequently by all the great 

 rivers, and including the Carnatic, Mysore, and the Dekhan. 

 Khandesh lies to the north of the chain, and includes that 

 portion which sinks into the Tapti valley, together with the 

 southern (opposite) slope of the Satpura branch of the Vin- 

 dhia to the north of that river. 



2. The Vindhia chain, from the little that is known of its 

 structure, appears to consist of two parallel ranges, connected 

 towards their centres, where the table-land of Umarkantak is 

 said to attain an elevation of 4500 feet j elsewhere they are 

 separated by the great rivers Son and Nerbada, which rise to- 

 gether and flow in opposite directions. The more southern of 

 these ranges is probably always the higher of the two, but it 

 appears seldom to exceed 3000 feet. The Vindhia mountains 

 separate the Ganges and its tributaries from those rivers (the 

 Mahanuddy, etc.) which flow south-east to the Bay of Bengal, 

 as also from the Tapti and Nerbada, which flow west to the 

 Arabian Sea. To the south of the range are the provinces of 

 Khandesh, Berar, and Orissa ; and to the east and north is the 

 Gangetic valley, extending to the base of the Himalaya, and 

 forming one great botanical province. 



3. The Arawali chain is the least elevated of the three : it 

 divides the tributaries of the In lus from those of the Ganges, 

 and may hence be regarded as a continuation of the Cis-Satlej 

 chain of the Himalaya, which terminates, to all appearance, in 

 the plains near Nahan in Sirmur. In like manner, the Penin- 



