﻿1861.] 



STRACHEY — GEOLOGY OF THE HIMALAYA. 



293 



t han 1 200 feet above the sea ; while on the north the countries around 

 Yarkund and Khoten appear to form an equally striking plateau, which, 

 as we may safely conclude, from the nature of its vegetable productions, 

 can hardly exceed in altitude 3000 feet. The loftiest summits known 

 on the surface of the earth are to be found towards the southern edge 

 of this elevated region, more than one peak having been measured 

 whose height is upwards of 28,000 feet, while along the whole line 

 peaks of 20,000 feet abound. 



So little is known of the interior and northern parts of this region' 

 that it is impossible to offer any general account of it based upon 

 actual observation ; but as far as we may judge from those parts that 

 have been explored, it appears that the surface is, with few excep- 

 tions, broken up into a mass of mountains, the general elevation of 

 which, valleys as well as ridges, is very great ; and to the best of my 

 judgement there is no reason for supposing that either the Himalaya 

 or Kouenlun have any definite special existence as mountain-ranges 

 apart from the general elevated mass of which, as 1 before said, they 

 appear to be the two opposite faces. 



From the point where the Indus enters the plains of the Punjab 

 to that where the Brahmapootra enters Assam, the Himalaya extends 

 without interruption over a distance of about 1500 miles. Its direc- 

 tion appears to change gradually from north-west and south-east on 

 the west to nearly due west and east on the east, so that the moun- 

 tains form on the whole a curve, the convexity of which is turned to 

 the south-west. 



The portion of the chain to which I am about to allude more par- 

 ticularly is somewhat to the west of the centre of this line ; it lies a 

 hundred or a hundred and fifty miles to the north-east of Agra and 

 Delhi, the two chief cities of north-western India, on about the 30th 

 degree of north latitude and the 80th of east longitude, which meri- 

 dian will be seen to pass through the island of Ceylon, and not far from 

 Cape Comorin, the extreme southern point of the peninsula of India. 

 The district in question (see Map, Pl.XVL) is immediately contiguous 

 to the western boundary of Nepal, and lies between the river Kali, a 

 tributary of the Ganges, separating it from Nepal, and the river 

 Sutluj, which is the most eastern of the feeders of the Indus. The 

 principal stream of the Ganges flows nearly midway between the other 

 two rivers. Simla and Sabathii are within this region, not far from 

 the Sutluj. Cashmere is beyond it to the north-west, from 200 to 

 300 miles ; while Sikim, from which Dr. Hooker has lately returned, 

 is situated about 500 miles further east, and nearly north of Calcutta. 



The distance between the points where the Kali and Sutluj leave 

 the foot of the mountains is about 200 miles, while the breadth of 

 the tract of which we shall have cognizance, measuring from the ter- 

 mination of the Plains of India in a north-westerly direction, is nearly 

 120 miles. Of this again it is only the eastern half that I have my- 

 self visited, and I am dependent on the published accounts of Capt. 

 Herbert and M. Jacquemont for the very imperfect knowledge that I 

 have of the country to the west of the Ganges. When we consider 

 the great extent of this region, the natural difficulties which so rugged 



