1849.] On the Snow-line in the Himalaya, 289 



to the plains of Tibet. A line drawn through the great peaks will be 

 almost parallel to the water-shed, but about 30 miles to the south of it. 



To the west of the Touse the arrangement of the drainage is very 

 different. From the source of this river an unbroken ridge extends to 

 the Sutlej, almost on the prolongation of the line of the great eastern 

 peaks, but more nearly east and west. On this range, which separates 

 Kunawar from the more southern parts of Bissehir, and which, as it 

 has hitherto received no distinctive name, I shall call the Bissehir range, 

 are the Rupin, Gunas, Burendo and Shatul passes ; and no perpetual 

 snow is to be found further south among these western mountains. To 

 the north of this range and almost parallel to it, run several others of 

 somewhat greater altitude, between which the streams of eastern Ku- 

 nawar flow into the Sutlej, from S. E. to N. W., nearly parallel to the 

 upper, and perpendicular to the lower part of the course of that river. 



If we now follow two travellers into Tibet, one from Kumaon or 

 Garhwal, and the other from Simla or the western hills, we shall be 

 prepared to find that the circumstances under which they will cross the 

 snowy mountains will be very different. The former will proceed up 

 the course of one of the great rivers before alluded to, and ascending 

 the gorge, by which it breaks through the line of the great peaks, will 

 pass unobserved the true southern limit of the perpetual snow ; he will 

 leave the great peaks themselves far behind him, and will finally reach 

 the water-shed of the chain, where he may possibly for the first time 

 find glaciers and snow. He will here cross straight into Tibet, from 

 what will appear to him the southern, to what he will call the northern 

 declivity of the Himalaya.* 



The western traveller, on the other hand, will find almost at his first 

 step a snowy barrier drawn across his path, and he will naturally sup- 

 pose that he crosses from the southern to the northern face of the snowy 

 range, when he descends from the Shatul or some neighbouring pass into 

 the valley of Kunawar ; and in this idea he will probably be confirmed, 

 by the total change of climate which he will perceive, and by his being 

 able to penetrate to Shipke, the frontier village of Tibet in this quarter, 



* This does not exactly apply to the passes usually crossed between Juhar and 

 Tibet, which will be mentioned more particularly hereafter. There is a pass how- 

 ever, the 'Lashar,' though from its badness it is not used, which affords a direct 

 communication. 



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