NOTES ON MAMMALS FOUND IN THE SIMLA DISTRICT. 727' 



Basliahr. It lies on either bank of the Sntlej River : all the other 



Simla Hill States lie to the south of that river. 



The small bit of the Patiala State occupies an area of about 



1,000 square miles, and stretches from the Siwalik Hills to the- 



town of Simla, of which it forms the northern and eastern 



boundary. 



The town of Kalka is situated at the foot of the outlying range- 



of the Himalayas, and has an elevation of 2,400 feet. It is entirely 



surrounded by native territor}^. 



The physical aspects and scenery of these tracts have been* 



admirably described in the hwperial Gazetteer : — 



" The Simla District and surrounding Native States, " re- 

 marks the author, "form a continuous series of ranges, ascend- 

 ing from the low hills which bound the plains of Ambala to 

 the great central chain of the Western Himalayas. This cen- 

 tral chain terminates a few miles south of the Sutlej in Bashahr, 

 the most northern of the States. The same State is broken 

 on its northern frontier by spurs from the snowy hills, which 

 separate it from Spiti, and on the east by similar spurs from 

 the range shutting it off from Chinese Tartary. Starting 

 from the termination of the Central Himalayas, a transverse 

 range (the last to the south of the Sutlej), runs south-west 

 throughout the length of the Simla States, forming the 

 watershed between the Indus and the Ganges — here represent- 

 ed by their tributaries, the Sutlej and the Jumna. A few 

 miles north-east of Simla, the spur divides into two main 

 ridges, one of which curves round the Sutlej Valley towards the 

 north-west ; while the other, crowned by the town of Simla, 

 trends south-eastward to a point a few miles north of Sabathu,. 

 where it merges at right angles in the mountains of the Outer 

 or sub-Himalayan system, which run parallel to the principal- 

 range. South and east of Simla, the hills between the Sutlej 

 and the Tons (the principal feeder of the Jumna), centre in 

 the great peak of Chaur, 11,9b 2 feet high, itself the ter- 

 mination of a minor chain that branches off southwards from 

 the main Simla range. The mountain system (excluding 

 Bashahr) may be thus mapped out roughly into three portions : 

 the Cha^ir Peak and spurs radiating from it, occupying the 

 south-east corner ; the Simla range, extending from the- Cen- 

 tral Himalayas to the neighbourhood of Sabathu ; and the 

 mountains of the sub-Himalayan series, running from the 

 north-west to south-east, and forming the boundary of the 

 Ambala plains. The last-mentioned group may be sub-divid- 

 ed into the sub-Himalayas proper, and an outer range,, corres- 

 ponding to the Siwalik Hills of Hoshiarpur. The sub- 

 Himalayan and the Siwalik ranges form parallel lines,, having 



