1857.] Proceedings oftlie Asiatic Society. 299 



sant with the facts. It is easy to see how, this fallacy originated in 

 his mind. The sketch map published by him in the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society, December 1848, gives his idea of the configuration 

 of that part of the Himalayas. A more erroneous impression of the 

 formation of the country was never formed. He represents a solitary 

 mountain occupying a vast tract. If this unity really existed, the 

 identity of Mount Everest and Deodangha would indeed be indis- 

 putable, as it would rest on the fact of there being only one 

 mountain within a given space. This single mountain, however, is 

 entirely imaginary. The range presents the appearance of a sierra 

 with innumerable peaks and groups of peaks. Among these, nine 

 have been fixed by the G. T. Survey of India, and are marked XII 

 to XXI in the chart accompanying Mr. Scott's report. Besides 

 these nine, several others are more or less partially visible, which 

 we were unable to identify, and those who have any experience in 

 conducting Geodetical operations in the Himalaya, can harbour no 

 doubt that many other peaks do exist, which have been concealed 

 from our view by intermediate ranges. It is well known to Surveyors, 

 that among a number of peaks having various altitudes and dis- 

 tances, the highest point in appearance is not always the highest in 

 reality ; the occular deception being caused by the increment in the 

 earth's curvature and decrement in the subtended angle caused by 

 distance. 



The erroneous idea Mr. Hodgson has formed of the configuration 

 of this mountain range is sufficiently proved by his sketch map 

 already referred to. If further proof was necessary <it may be de- 

 rived from the statement Mr. Hodgson has given of the opinion he 

 communicated to me when I returned from the expedition I made 

 into Sikim in 1847. Having mentioned to him, that I had seen 

 from the confines of that province an enormous snow mass lying in 

 a north-westerly direction from Tonglo, he immediately pronounced 

 it to be " Deodangha." Now the mountain I then saw was not 

 Mount Everest, but No. XIII which Major Sherwill has so well 

 described in the Asiatic Journal. Thus Mr. H. has attributed the 

 same name to No. XIII and to No. XV without any exact know- 

 ledge of the height or position of either. He has fallen into this 

 mistake from adopting the erroneous conception that there is only 

 a single mountain in all this wide space. 



