1849.] On the Physical Geography of the Himdlaya. 765 



from 83° to 86° : 4th, the alpine basin of the Cosi extending from the 

 peak of Gosain-than to that of Kangchang, or from 86° to 88° 10 ; : 5th, 

 the alpine basin of the Tishta, reaching from the peak of Kangchang 

 to that of Chumalari, or from 88° 10' to 89° 18' : 6th, the alpine basin 

 of the Monas, stretching from the peak of Chumalari to that of the 

 Gemini, or from 89° 18 7 to 92° 50': and, lastly, the alpine basin of the 

 Subhansri, of which the western limit is the Gemini, but the eastern 

 peak, unascertained. It should be sought somewhat about 94° 50 

 between which point and the extreme eastern limits of the Himalaya, 

 must be the basin of the Dihong. That the above distribution of the 

 Himalaya into natural districts is, upon the whole, as consistent with 

 the facts as it is eminently commodious and highly suggestive, I have 

 no hesitation of asserting. Lest however I should extend my presen^ 

 Essay to undue limits to trench upon the province of Col. Waugh and 

 the other able professional men who are now engaged upon the western 

 hills, I shall say nothing further of the alpine valley of the Ganges and 

 those west of it, nor upon those lying east of Sikim. If my main as- 

 sumption be valid, it will be easily worked out by abler hands and better 

 furnished ones than mine : wherefore the following more detailed expo- 

 sitions will be chiefly confined to the three great central basins of the 

 Karnali, the Gandak, and the Cosi. In the first of these basins we 

 have (successively from west to east) the Sarjii, the Gori, the Kali, the 

 Sweti-ganga, the Karnali proper, the Bheri and the Jhingrak or Rapti. 

 And it is certain that, whereas these streams drain the whole alpine 

 valley of the Karnali, so their most westerly source and course is con- 

 fined on the west by the Nanda-devi peak, as their most easterly is 

 limited on the east by that of Dhoula-giri. These rivers do not wholly 

 unite within the hills, though their tendency to union is so decided that 

 they are known by one name, even in the plains, where their collective 

 appellation is Sarju, vel Kali, vel Ghogra. In the hills the whole of 

 them are universally denominated by the collective name of Karnali 

 (corrupted by Rennell and his followers into Kenar). Karnali is the 

 proper name of this noble river, the Karnali branch being by far the 

 largest the central and most remote of origin. It rises in Tibet, not far 

 from one of the sources of the Satlege, and has a considerable trans- 

 Himalayan course to the westward of the Taklakhar pass, where it quits 

 Tibet. No natural district can be more distinct than the alpine basin of 



