TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 581 
axis, on the east and west of Leh; the Indus flows at the base of its escarpment for 
190 miles, and this line also was not far from the limit of the ancient nummulitic 
sea. On the west it unites with the great plateau of Deosai and extends to Gilgit. 
The Indus drainage has cut through it from south to north into the Scardo basin, 
and back again to south at the sharp bend at Bunji, while on the east at Haulé the 
same river passes to the north again, and the range is continued following the 
left or south bank up to the Gurla peak, south of the Mansarowar Lake. Thence it 
is probably continuous up to the Fotu La. 
28. The Shayok-Kailas—This subsidiary axis is well marked on the south of the 
Pangkong Lake N.W. and S.E. of Tanksé, running parallel to the Ladak range. 
It is then to be followed westward, north of the Shayok River to the junction of 
the Basha Braldoh Rivers, and thence to Haramosh and Raki Pushi peaks, and 
perhaps through Yasin to Tirich Mir on the Hindu Kush. To the eastward from 
Sajam peak, the north side of the Indus and Gartangchu to the Kailas peak, 
thence very probably north of the head waters of the Brahmaputra. 
4. The Zaskar Range.—Where best displayed, it is that portion which lies 
south of the districts of that name in Ladak, and runs parallel for 100 miles with 
the upper sources of that large tributary of the Indus, the river of the same name. 
In the size of the present glaciers, that fill the upper valleys, this portion more closely 
resembles the Alps of Europe than any other part of the Himalayan chain. It is 
continued to the N.W., past Dras, to the southern side of the Deosai plains, thus 
coalescing with that great elevated mass of the primitive rocks. It is continued to 
the Nanga Purbet, 26,620 feet, and it probably continues still further, west of the 
Indus, the curve of the range bounding Swat and Bajaur on the north towards 
Kunar, and which, after the central portion, we may term, at present, the Bajaur range. 
Taking it up in a S.E. direction, it bends sli¢htly south, crossing the head of the 
Bagha River by the Rotang pass to that line of lofty snowy peaks seen from Simla 
and other hill stations leading past Chini to the east of the Sutlej, to the famous 
peaks of Gangotri, Nandadevi, and Nampa. To the majority of Europeans who 
haye visited India this is perhaps the best known portion of the Himalayas. 
AN’. The Rukshu Ridge——Two secondary ranges, more or less connected with 
the last, one intimately so with an axis of trappzan intrusion of ,early tertiary 
age, which from Dras to the Mansarawa is over 400 miles in extent, can be followed. 
The first is conspicuous at the Tsomorirhi Lake, Mata Peak, 20,600 feet, being of 
granitic rock; it is seen on the west covered by the earlier sedimentary formations, 
but it can be traced towards Dras, and on the S.K. to the Imis La, curving thence 
towards the Leo Purgial mass, the elevated tertiary formations of Hundes coming 
in on the east. 
4N”, The Stok.—Another subsidiary and later line of elevation, one I had at first 
been inclined to disregard in this address, being a minor feature in comparison with 
the whole chain, flanks conspicuously (attaining the very considerable elevation of 
eyer 20,000 feet) the left bank of the Indus for 200 miles, and is still more intimately 
related to the above trappzan intrusion. It forms a connecting link with the 
tertiary rocks of the same age on the southern base of the Himalayas (the eleva- 
tion of which led on successively to the formation of the outermost range of hills, 
the Sivaliks), and shows the relatively recent date of the elevation of the whole 
chain, and the obliteration of the topographical details of a previous mountain 
mass. 
__ AN. The Baralacha Ridge—tThis line corresponds with the run of the 
highly tilted slates, carboniferous and succeeding formations, resting against the 
Zaskar axis, which it follows from near Suru to south of Padam by the Baralacha 
and Parang passes; here, for a short distance constituting the water-parting be- 
tween the Indus and Chandrabagha, it can be traced towards the Sutlej, Chini, 
erossing on to the Keobrang, and in turn the Nilang, Niti, Lakhur, and Tinkar 
passes, displaying all along this line its characteristic feature, first seen at the 
Baralacha pass, of being the main waterparting between the Ganges and Kali 
hasins on the south, and the Indus on the north, and constituting from here to the 
eastward, with the peaks on the granitic or gneissose axis, the main Himalayan 
range. In the Nipal area to the eastward, we notice the great similarity with 
