18 GRIESBACH : GEOLOGY OF THE CENTRAL HIMALAYAS. 



plateau, of which the Himalayas may be said to form the parapet 

 and scarp. 



Some seventy years ago 1 Herbert was the first to attempt a sys- 

 tematic examination of the Himalaya. Since then many other ob- 

 servers have worked in the same direction. I will here refer in few 

 words to the various theories put forth. Most writers agree in the 

 main about the distinctness of certain features, which I have already 

 described, namely, that there exists a great Tibetan plateau fringed 

 by high ranges ; along its north side by the Kuenlun and south by 

 the Himalaya, with several ranges more or less parallel running 

 across the plateau itself. The Himalaya consists of a ramification of 

 ranges, amongst which is most conspicuous (i) the line of water-part- 

 ing between the Hiindes basin and the Ganges drainage; (2) a chain 

 of snowy masses, containing the highest peaks known at the present 

 day, together forming the Himalaya of ancient Hindu geography ; 

 (3) a network of ranges, much lower than the snowy hills, which ter- 

 minate in a more or less precipitous scarp facing the plains of 

 India; (4) a range or ranges of low hills running parallel with the 

 former, — the Siwakks, etc. 



Different interpretations and various names have been applied to 



these features by the numerous geographical 

 Various views. . 



writers who nave undertaken a systematic 

 study of them. 



B. H. Hodgson, 2 for instance, will only apply the name Himalaya 

 to the line of water-parting; the snowy range is, in his opinion, not 

 a continuous chain. 



R. Strachey 3 rightly looks upon the entire belt of hills as the 

 southern slope of the Tibetan plateau ; the highest peaks accord- 

 ing to this observer are not set in a continuous ridge, but are grouped 

 together in masses and separated by deep valleys. 



1 Jour. As. Soc. Beng., XI, Suppl., pp. I — Clxiii. 



2 Jour. As. Soc. Beng., XVIII, 761—788(1849) ; Sel. Rec. Gov. Beng., XXVII, 48 

 —82. 



8 Jour. R. Geogr. Soc, XXI, 57 — 58; Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, X, 249 — 253; 

 Encycl. Brit., XI, 821. 



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