552 



NATURE 



\pct, 28, 1875 



of interest. He throws some light also on the probable 

 origin of castes, and especially of the distinction between 

 the superior and inferior castes, and produces some very 

 good reasons for believing that they are a result of the 

 conquest of an inferior by a superior race. Mr. Drew 

 was governor of Ladakh for a period, and thus had a 

 splendid opportunity of becoming acquainted with an in- 

 teresting region and curious people. He of course refers 

 to the peculiar marital institution of the Turanians in 

 the comparatively barren districts of the Himalayas. In 

 Baltistan the people are of the same race as the Ladakhis, 

 but having been converted to Mohammedanism, have 

 eschewed polyandry for polygyny, with the result that 

 the population has increased beyond the capacity of the 

 country to support it, rendering emigration necessary. 



Mr. Drew presents minute studies of several places in 

 Ladakh, especially of the salt lake district to the south of 

 Leh. After carefully observing the geological charac- 

 teristics of the district, he concludes that at one time, when 

 glaciers were more universal than now, there must have 

 been there one extensive and deep lake, Mr, Drew is con- 

 stantly turning aside to make minute studies in geology 

 and physical geography of this kind, and as the pheno- 

 menon investigated is generally of a typical sort, the scien- 

 tific value of the book is thus much enhanced. 



Of course Mr. Drew has a great deal to say about the 

 Himalayas and their glaciers — glaciers on a scale, as he 

 says, not to be met with elsewhere beyond the Arctic 

 regions. Though Mr. Drew's style is unadorned, it has the 

 merit of being always perfectly clear, so that his descriptions 

 of glacial and other phenomena convey real and valuable 

 information. One glacier he examined at Basha, in 

 Baltistan, was upwards of twenty miles long, and others 

 are to be met with of much greater extent ; indeed, to 

 judge from the map, this north-west Himalayan region 

 is one huge net-work of glaciers. The largest of all is 

 the Baltoro glacier, thirty-five miles Ion g, which comes 

 down between two lofty ridges ; the northern ridge rises 

 in one spot to the height of 28,265 feet, the peak of that 

 height (K 2 of the Indian Survey) being the second highest 

 mountain known in the world. And yet these glaciers 

 are a mere remnant, the evidence seems to show, of the 

 glacial covering which at one time spread over the 

 Himalayan region. 



One interesting excursion made by Mr. Drew was to 

 the district in the N.E. of Ladakh, which, in'the form of 

 a great mountain- surrounded plateau, extends to the 

 Kuenlun Mountains. This plain is divided into two by a 

 low range of mountains running east and west, the 

 southern half being known as the Lingzhithang Plain, 

 and the northern half is named by Mr. Drew the Kuenlun 

 Plain. This extensive and almost lifeless plateau has 

 been crossed before Mr. Drew's journey, by various 

 travellers— the unfortunate A. Schlagentweit, Mr. W. H. 

 Johnson of the G. T. Survey, Mr. Haywood, Mr. Shaw, 

 Dr. Cayley, and the two Yarkand Mission parties. Mr. 

 Drew discusses the observations of some of these ob- 

 servers, and from observations made by himself, comes 

 to the conclusion that the entire plateau must at 

 one time have been under water, the mountains in the 

 centre appearing above the surface as islands. His 

 account of his observations on this journey are of con- 

 siderable value as supplementary to those of previous ob- 



servers — of the mirage, of the capricious lakelets which 

 are still sometimes seen, of the composition of the surface 

 of the plateau, of the remains of shingly beaches, salt 

 deposits, and other features. This great plateau has by 

 no means been yet fully explored, though it would be 

 likely to yield to a competent observer important data in 

 physical geography. 



One special chapter is devoted to the various languages 

 spoken in the territories, and their relationships well 

 pointed out. In the appendices, also, material is pro- 

 vided for the comparative philologist in a Dogra grammar, 

 various vocabularies and phrases. 



A characteristic and valuable feature of the work is the 

 series of maps which enable the reader to follow satis- 

 factorily all the author's froutes and descriptions. First 

 of all there is a general map on the scale of sixteen miles 

 to an inch, sufficiently minute to enable one to recognise 

 the chief physical features, and in which the various 

 glaciers are indicated. Then come five maps, constructed 

 each from a different and special point of view. The 

 " Snow Map " is coloured, to show the characteristics of 



'f^' 



.-•-'l-W^^?^-^-^^^' 



K 2 of Indian Survey, 28,26s feet, as seen from Turmik. 



various regions of the territory in respect of snow, from 

 the region of " no snow " to that of glaciers. The " Race 

 Map " shows the distribution of the various peoples which 

 make up the population of the country, while the " Lan- 

 guage Map " and the " Faith Map " serve the same pur- 

 pose for languages and religions respectively. The 

 " Political Map" shows the various previously indepen- 

 dent states and rajaships which have been gradually 

 agglomerated into one dominion under the Maharaja 

 of Jummoo. Besides the maps there are isometric views 

 and sections of the principal mountain regions, and a 

 number of illustrations of places and people. We think 

 the illustrations, especially in the way of typical photo- 

 graphic portraits, ought to have been more abundant in a 

 work otherwise so elaborate and minute ; but this may 

 be remedied in a second edition. 



We have given but a faint idea of the contents of this 

 thick volume, but perhaps we have said enough to show 

 that henceforth it must be considered as one of the prin- 

 cipal authorities on a country of great interest in itself, 

 and of special interest to English people on account of 

 its relation to our Indian dominions and government. 

 Much has already been written on the country and on the 

 regions which border upon it, and special studies have 

 been made of particular parts and aspects of it—Mr. 

 Drew refers with deserved praise to Dr. Leitner's great 

 work on Dardistan ; — but on the country as a whole, in 

 all its aspects, political, historical, ethnological, and 

 physical, Mr. Drew's work must be considered as a per- 

 manent and trustworthy authority. 



