INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 191 



4. Kunawar; the upper part of the Satlej basin to the Ti- 

 betan districts of Piti and Guge. 



5. Kulu; including Mandi and other petty states in the 

 basin of the Beas. 



6. Chamba ; the basin of the Ravi. 



7. Lahul ; the highest and subtibetan course of the Chenab. 



8. Kishtwar ; the middle part of the Chenab basin. 



9. Jamu; the lower part of the Chenab basin, including 

 Banahal. 



10. Rajaori; the states between Kashmir and the plains. 



11. Kashmir. 



12. Hazara or Marri. 



In consequence of the increased distance from the sea, and 

 partly also from the great obliquity of many of the great 

 mountain ranges, the rain-fall in the Western Himalaya is 

 much less considerable than it is in the Central and Eastern. 

 The rain-fall also diminishes, cmteris paribus, regularly and 

 gradually from east to west, but the amount varies so much 

 with local circumstances that, unless used with proper cau- 

 tion, absolute numbers are apt to mislead. Thus, while the 

 average rain-fall at Naini Tal, elevated 6500 feet on the last 

 spurs of the Gagar overhanging the plains of Rohilkhand, 

 is 88 inches, at Almora, elevated 5500 feet, but fifteen miles 

 further from the plains, only 34 inches fall. The fall at Naini 

 Tal may however be compared with that of Dorjiling (135 

 inches), for in both these localities there is no considerable 

 amount of higher land interposed between them and the 

 plains of India. The rain-fall at Masuri and at Simla is ma- 

 terially less. 



The vegetation of the Western Himalaya alters with the 

 climate, presenting a very gradual transition from the flora 

 of Nipal to that of the arid Afghan hills. This is the case 

 equally in the tropical, temperate, and alpine zones of vegeta- 

 tion, and in the interior as weU as in the exterior Himalaya. 



In the tropical zone of Kumaon a dense forest skirts the 

 base of the mountains, corresponding in all its features with 



