242 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE 



declivity of a loftier chain sloping to the table land of Rtlpshu on the 

 other ; the more precise boundaries of the district being, the hill-rajship 

 of KuUu and the Himdlaya south-west, the Satlej and the British Territory 

 of Basdhir ( Kuiidiver) south-east. Snowy ridges and high tabular land 

 to the Indus north and north-east, and the Paraldssa mountains with the 

 branches of the Chandra Bdga north-west, including an area of about 

 ten thousand square miles drained by the Spiti. From the southern 

 base of the snowy zone to the valley of the river is a geographical 

 distance of fifty miles, and an equal space in the same line of direction 

 (north-east) falls over snowy mountains, belts of table land and ridges, 

 which, though only capped with snow, do not yield in elevation. The 

 great lines of level continue rising to the Indus, and the land, sloping up 

 to the north by successive ranges, at last opens into a continuous plain 

 inhabited by Nomade races, who live in black tents, and migrate with their 

 flocks in search of pasturage. These are the Huns and Mongols, whose 

 figures are described as very hideous. All hither to that limit, including 

 the upper portion of the Satlej and its ramifications and even the valley of 

 the Indus, considered by European geographers as table land, is but the 

 rugged skirt of this great plateau ; a tract of country unseen by the eye of 

 civilized man, and almost inaccessible to the natives of any other region. 

 The skies are here so arid that little snow falls even in winter and is only 

 perennial in the loftiest spots. The section of country made by the Spiti 

 and its tributaries, though cutting the northern base of the Himalaya, pre- 

 sents a singular contrast to its opposite or plainward aspect, not only in 

 climate and vegetation, but in the condition and character of its inhabi- 

 tants, and in geological structure, the rocks themselves appearing new 

 and all the productions of nature different. 



A traveller entering the valley by the sources of the Cliundb and 

 Paraldssa chain on the north-west, and tracing down the river, particularly 

 remarks the steep and insular form of the cliffs on each side. Where 



