1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. xv 



In ruggedness of feature, it does not yield probably to any country in 

 the world, and such is the irregular and confused appearance, which 

 the endless ramification of its mountain ranges presents, that it is 

 with difficulty the unpractised observer can persuade himself that any 

 thing like order or regularity can be deduced out of such a seeming 

 chaos. 9 



15. No continuous chain of elevations can be distinguished on a first 

 and cursory view ; no great vallies, no table lands, nothing in fact to 

 lend a clue to the development of the mountain masses. The aspect, 

 from whatever height the country be viewed, is that of an assemblage of 

 elevated peaks, irregularly and confusedly heaped together. Even the 

 snowy chain, though defined to a certain degree by a phenomenon so 

 singular on a first view to the inhabitant of the plain country, loses on a 

 nearer approach all character of continuity and regularity, and appears 

 under the same confused and irregular aspect which the lower eleva- 

 tions are observed to bear. 



16. It is only by tracing the courses of the rivers and their tributary 

 streams, that a clue can be found to lead the observer out of this laby- 

 rinth. By connecting their sources, and by following out the devious 

 windings of the several feeders, an idea is obtained of the extent, the 

 direction, and the connection of the several ranges. Such an analysis, 

 (vide sketch of the great river basins,) will be found to modify consider- 

 ably the notions which the first view of this mountain tract from the 

 plains is calculated to give. 



17. Instead of a succession of parallel and continuous ranges running 

 S. E. to N. W., and rising one behind another in regular array and 

 increasing elevation, till the series is closed in the farthest distance by 

 the line of snow- clad peaks, 10 we see only one continuous range of 

 any extent forming an irregularly curved line, which bends round the 

 tract commencing on the N. E. angle, with a North-westerly direction, 



9 This is also the arrangement, or rather apparent want of arrangement observed 

 by Saussure in the Albs, who says, "When we contemplate the range of which 

 Mount Blanc forms a part, from less considerable elevations, it appears as if these 

 colossal mountains were situated in a line, and formed a chain, but this appearance 

 vanishes entirely from the bird's-eye view here presented. They are distributed in 

 great masses or groups of various strange forms," &c. &c. 



10 The deception is so strong in viewing these mountains from the plains, that 

 most people continue, even after having visited the interior, to speak of the 1st, '2d, 

 3d, and snowy ranges. 



