G A N G E T I C H I N D O O S T A N. 347 



a word which fignifies fnozvy, the perpetual charader of this 

 exalted range. The Perfians name it Ko Kcif, or the frofty 

 movintains, in alhifion to the fnow its general covering. It 

 commences behind Ca//j;Mere, and from the Paropamijan is a 

 wall to the empire of Hindoof.an, and extends in different 

 branches to the eaft nearly parallel to each other, and increaf- 

 ing in height as they advance northward. In extent north- 

 eafhvard they penetrate even into China. Cq/Jjinere, the pa- 

 radife oi India, is like a rich gem inchafed within three moun- 

 tains. They have in many parts glacieres like thofe of the 

 Helvetian Alps. This occafions the 'Tartars to call them in one 

 part Mus tag, or the mountains of ice ; thefe bound the north- 

 ern fide of the defert of Gobi, oppofite to the fouthern end of 

 great Thibet. 



Pliny, lib. v. c. 27, makes this and many other branches to Pliny's Ac- 

 count or. 

 originate from the Riphxi juga, and branch both to the eaft and 



to the weft. He gives the names of numbers, but moft of them 

 feem now to be loft. The Riphcean hills are thofe which ex- 

 tend from Nova Zeinb/a due fouth to Orenberg, not remote 

 from the Cafpian Sea, and again to the eaft at right angles ; from 

 their fouthern end begins the Altaic chain, which runs due 

 eaft, and is fuppofed to have been part of the Imaus range. 

 Thofe which rife on the weft fide of the Cafpian Sea, are the 

 Caucafus, the Taurus, and Niphates. On the eaftern brancli 

 from the Altaic are the Paropamyfus, the Indian Caucafus, Emo- 

 ,dus, and Imaus. The antient Indian name IVmwialeh is retain- 

 ed, and that of Hindoo Kbo, and towards the eaftern end are the 

 ...chains Chomlah and Cbouke, the concluding part. In refpect to 



y V 2 Jmaus^ 



