A COLD WEATHER TOUR 213 



The term Shewalic, as applied to these mountains, 

 has only come into use among the English within quite 

 recent times. It is a term altogether incorrect ; properly 

 it is the designation of the entire Himalaya, snowy and 

 lower ranges and these mountains included, that lies to 

 the westward of the Ganges. As such it is used in- 

 variably by the native historians, and was by the 

 English themselves up to the early years of the present 

 century. By the natives these mountains are termed 

 the " Mountains of the Passes." They are so termed 

 from the circumstance that it is through the passes 

 among them that the roads run which lead to the Doon 

 and Mussoorie. 



The term Shewalic is stated by one of the native 

 historians to be a combination of the two Hindee words 

 " sewa " and " lae," the word " sewa " signifying one 

 and a quarter, and the word " lae " being the term 

 which expresses the number of one hundred thousand. 

 The historian further states that the compounded word 

 " Shewalic " has been used to designate the mountains 

 of the Western Himalaya, from the belief that these 

 mountains consisted of one and a quarter lae — that is, 

 of one hundred and twenty-five thousand — separate 

 peaks. 



I may here mention that the name Himalaya is used 

 equally incorrectly by the English, and indeed by all 

 Europeans. The name signifies the " Necklace of 

 Snow," and applies, strictly speaking, only to the 

 highest line of mountains, on which the snow never 

 melts, and not to the lower ranges. 



The Shewalic mountains — I mean the range now 



