j\Ir Baillle Fraser on the Himalaya Mountahis^ 
vuics, that are the beds of torrents, while behind they are clo- 
sed by a succession of the loftier clilis. Every account we re- 
ceive of a passage through them, gives a detail of many days 
journey, through deserts of snow and rocks ; and it is to be in- 
ferred, that on the N. E. side they advance to, and retreat from 
the low ground in an equally irregular manner. Indeed some 
accounts would induce the belief, that long; ranges crowned with 
snow-clad peaks, project in various places from the great spire, 
and include habitable and milder districts ; for in all the routes 
of which we have accounts, hills covered with snow are occasion- 
ally mentioned, as occurring, even after the great deserts are 
passed, and the grazing country entered. The breadth, then, 
of this crest of snow-clad rock itself cannot fairly be estimated 
at less than from 70 to 80 miles, ^ ^ 
Various sources of information lead us to presume a pretty 
extensive detail of hills beyond the loftiest belt, that by no means 
terminate even at Gara or Gartope, though they do not reach 
the height of' these to the W* and S. W. A branch of the 
Cailas range, undoubtedly a ramification of the Himala, stretch- 
es out l)eyoncl tlie lake Mansrowar, a considerable way to- 
wards Gartope. The general character of the hills on the 
N. E. side of the Himala, if we may judge from information, 
seems somewhat less rugged and unhospitable than those on 
the S. W. face. ^ 
The great snowy belt, although its loftiest crest is broken 
into numberless cliffs and ravines, nevertheless presents a bar- 
rier perfectly impracticable, except in those places where hol- 
lows that become the beds of rivers have in some degree inter- 
sected it, and facilitated approach to its more remote recesses. 
Few rivers hold their course wholly through it; indeed, in the 
upper part, the Sutlej alone has been traced across this rocky 
barrier, and there is a path along its stream, from different 
parts of which roads diverge, that lead in various directions 
through the mountains. No reasonable doubt can now exist of 
the very long and extraordinary course which that river takes. 
The routes given below' will trace it particularly, nearly to its 
origin. Several other passes through the Himala exist to the 
south-eastward; but I am unacquainted with all of them be- 
yond Kumaoon, between which and tl}at of the Sutlej the 
