22 GR1ESBACH ; GEOLOGY OF THE CENTRAL HIMALAYAS. 



Southern range of the Central Himalayas continues in a north-west 

 direction ; the Kamat (25,443 feet) with the Mdna (23,862 feet) and a 

 number of minor heights form the range between the Dhauli Ganga 

 and Sarsuti rivers. West of this region, and bounded by the gorge of 

 the Bagirathi and J2dh rivers, lies an almost inaccessible mass of 

 snow-clad mountains ; of the well-known peaks I will only mention such 

 as, for instance, the Kedarnath group, which consists of the Karchakunt 

 peaks (21,785 feet), the Bhartekanta (220,840 feet), Satopanth (22,388 

 feet) and Badrinath peaks (22,395, 29,619, 22,901 feet,etc.) and many 



others. 



The most prominent groups of peaks are those of the Badrinath 

 and the Kedarnath heights, at each end of this portion of the Southern 

 chain, and they are connected by a snow-covered range, over which 

 neither path nor pass is known to cross into Tibet. This part of the 

 great Himalayan range is supposed to be the holiest; from amongst its 

 peaks the head-waters of the Ganges rise, and several very sacred 

 Hindu shrines are found amorjgst its ice-choked valleys, as, for in- 

 stance, the temples of Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri. 



Between the Bargirathi and Sutlej the Southern chain of the Cen- 

 tral Himalayas forms the political boundary between Tibet and Bisa- 

 hir,where it breaks up into a number of ridges with heights of from 

 18,000 to 22,000 feet; the Sutlej has eroded a deep V-shaped valley 

 through its entire width, which near Shipki becomes a narrow gorge 

 between steep rock-walls of gneiss with great granite intrusions. So 

 far this chain is running almost north to south; beyond the Sutlej it 

 breaks into two distinct ranges or groups of ranges : one, running al- 

 most east to west, forms the water-parting between the Sutlej and the 

 Spiti valley, the other continues a northward course into Tibet. 



This is the Southern range of the Central Himalayas, known corn- 

 Northern range •. Cen- monly as the "snowy range" or as the natives 

 tral Himalayas. themselves ordinarily call it the "baraf-pahar " 



(snow mountain). Parallel to it, sometimes separated by more or 

 less broad valleys of great elevation (15,000 to 16,000 feet sea-level), 

 sometimes connected with it by ridges which form the water-partings 

 of the lateral drainage of these ranges, runs the Northern range of 



( 22 ) 



