512 SEE— ORIGIN OF HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. [April i8, 



heretofore taught, have left that doctrine with such a serious defect 

 that this correction is necessary to give it a rational basis. 



8. The Uplifting of the Himalayas, Arrakan and Afghani- 

 stan Ranges Explains the Great Asiatic Earthquake 

 BELT. Confirmation of Colonel Burrard's im- 

 pressions that the Himalayas have been 

 Pushed Northward, but not by a 

 Change in the Rotation Period 

 OF THE Earth. 



We have seen that the region now occupied by the rivers Indus 

 and Ganges was formerly a sea valley ; and that after the Himalayas 

 were elevated to a great height, the valley itself was slowly raised 

 above the ocean. 



li proof is asked that the valleys of the Indus and Ganges were 

 formerly below the sea, it is furnished by the well-established fact 

 that such valleys as the San Joaquin and Sacramento in California 

 were below the sea when the Sierras were being elevated. What 

 has happened in California has also happened in India;, and the same 

 process of elevation will eventually give a fertile habitable valley in 

 the belt just south of the Aleutian Islands now covered by a sea 

 nearly five miles deep. 



This proof that the valleys of the Indus and Ganges were 

 once several miles beneath the sea level is absolute. For it is 

 definitely known how the mountain ranges and adjacent valleys are 

 crumpled, and finally raised above the sea. And what has happened 

 for mountain ranges in general, has happened also for the Hima- 

 layas and the valleys adjacent thereto. 



In order to round out the view here traced, it only remains to 

 add that the Arrakan coast of Father India contains two chief 

 mountain chains, one of which is the backbone of the Malay Penin- 

 sula ; and the other is the range terminating at Cape Negrais, but 

 continuing under the sea in a string of islands, and reappearing 

 further south as Sumatra and Java. The Andaman islands and 

 several volcanoes in the sea appear between Cape Negrais and 

 Sumatra. And both Java and Sumatra are noted for their terrific 



