400 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SIKKIM. Appendix E. 



theoretical enquiry with Dr. Thomson and myself. The deep narrow 

 valleys of Sikkim admirably represent the Norwegian fiords ; the lofty, 

 rugged, snowy mountains, those more or less submerged islands of 

 the Norwegian coast ; the broad rearward watershed, or axis of the 

 chain, with its lakes, is the same in both, and the Taru-tsampu 

 occupies the relative position of the Baltic. 



Along the whole chain of the Himalaya east of Kumaon there 

 are, I have no doubt, a succession of such lofty masses as Donkia, 

 giving off stupendous spurs such as that on which Kinchin forms so 

 conspicuous a feature. In support of this view we find every river 

 rising far beyond the snowy peaks, which are separated by con- 

 tinuously unsnowed ranges placed between the great white masses 

 that these spurs present to the observer from the south* From 

 the Khasia mountains (south-east of Sikkim) many of these groups 

 or spurs were seen by Dr. Thomson and myself, at various'distances 

 (80 to 210 miles) ; and these groups were between the courses of the 

 great rivers the Soobansiri, Monass, and Pachoo, aU east of Sikkim. 

 Other masses seen from the Gangetic valley probably thus mark the 

 relative positions of the Arun, Cosi, Gunduk, and G-ogra rivers. 



Another mass like that of Chumulari and Donkia, is that around 

 the Mansarowar lakes, so ably surveyed by the brothers Captains E. 

 and H. Strachey, which is evidently the centre of the Himalaya. 

 From it the Gogra, Sutlej, Indus, and Yaru rivers all flow to the Indian 

 side of Asia ; and from it spring four chains, two of which are better 

 known than the others. These are:— 1. The eastern Himalaya, whose 

 axis runs north of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhotan, to the bend of the 

 Yaru, the valley of which it divides from the plains of India. 

 2. The north-west Himalaya, which separates the valley of the Indus 

 from the plains of India. Behind these, and probably parallel to 

 them, lie two other chains. 3. The Kouenlun or Karakoram chain, 

 dividing the Indus from the Yarkand river. 4. The chain north of 

 the Yaru, of which nothing is known. All the waters from the two 

 first of these chains, flow into the Indian Ocean, as do those from 



* At vol. i. p. 185, I have particularly called attention to the fact, that west of 

 Kinchinjunga there is no continuation of a snowy Himalaya, as it is commonly 

 called. So between Donkia and Chumulari there is no perpetual snow, and the 

 valley of the Machoo is very broad, open, and comparatively flat. 



