212 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



water still remained. For a mile or so the pass con- 

 tinued so wide and straight that the slope of forest 

 beyond its entrance remained still visible. Then the 

 pass narrowed and turned, and the forest became 

 concealed by the spurs of the mountains. The 

 scenery of the pass was for some time very interest- 

 ing. But before I describe the pass I will give a 

 short account of the range of mountains through 

 which it leads. 



These mountains, known among the English as the 

 " Shewalic," issue from the Himalaya some ten miles 

 or so to the eastward of the Ganges. They run for a 

 short distance in a south-westerly direction, and then 

 follow a course nearly parallel to the Himalayas to a 

 point a little to the westward of the Jumna. There 

 they spread and widen, and again reunite with the 

 Himalaya. Although the Shewalic mountains appear 

 to form a portion of the Himalaya, they are in reality 

 entirely distinct. They are of a different geological 

 formation, and are considered to be of far greater 

 antiquity; also, as compared with the Himalaya, they 

 are both in extent and in altitude altogether insignifi- 

 cant. Their entire length is not much more than a 

 hundred miles, their average breadth does not exceed 

 fifteen miles, while their highest peaks do not quite 

 reach the elevation of three thousand two hundred feet 

 above the level of the sea, and hardly that of a thousand 

 feet above the plains that lie immediately below them. 

 Between the Shewalic mountains and the Himalaya 

 lies that valley of the Doon to which I am now pro- 

 ceeding. 



