The Himalayan lakes, not situated on or near the axis, are extremely few and unimportant; the Walur Lake in Kashmir (elevation 5000 feet) is the only large one; and the small tarns of Bheem-tal and Nynce-tal, a few miles long, and 4000 to 6000 feet above the sea, are both in Kumaon. It is a singular fact, that throughout the whole extent of the Himalaya, the Walur Lake (formed by the Jelam) is the only instance of any of the great rivers or their feeders forming any considerable expanse of still water.
Peat bogs, and moors analogous to those of Northern Europe, are wholly unknown in the Himalaya; their absence in the southern valleys is partly owing to the configuration of the latter, and more perhaps to the great rainfall. Of absolute plains there are perhaps none in the Himalaya; the comparatively level upper valley of the Sutlej being the only approach to an exception, and certainly a remarkable feature. Its extreme length is 120 miles, and its breadth varies from 15 to 60; its elevation is from 14,000 to 16,000 feet. It appears to be formed by a tertiary deposit of gravel and boulders; its surface is undulating, and broken by mountains in the eastern part. Such a feature as this, suddenly expanding before the traveller, weary of the endless ascents and descents of the southern slope of the Himalaya, must be very striking; and we accordingly often find it designated as an absolute plain. There is, however, a fall of 1000 feet from its southern edge to its centre; many mountain spurs intrude upon it; the Sutlej cuts a gorge 3000 feet deep through its longer axis; and the lateral ravines of the feeders of that river are so numerous, deep, and steep, that Moorcroft, one of the most accurate of observers, who first traversed it, calls these slopes mountains, and does not allude to the existence of a plain. Like many other mountainous valleys, it appears much flatter than it really is, from being generally viewed from a great elevation.
It is now undisputed that for its length the Himalaya exhibits the loftiest eminences in the world by very far, but it is yet to be determined whether it is the greatest mountain mass. The great range of Kailas or Karakoram (the western branch of the Kunenul, see p. 439 in note), running parallel to the Western Himalaya, on the N. of the Indus, is undoubtedly more continuously lofty, and presents a greater breadth of elevated country than the Himalaya to the S. of it; and if, as is very probable, the eastern continuation of the Karakoram (to the N. of the Yaru or Tibetan Brahmaputra) is as lofty as the western, this will undoubtedly prove to be by very far a more lofty mountain chain than the Himalaya.
The mean slope of the Himalaya, from the plains of India to the average greatest elevation of the axis, is only 1 foot in 25; that from the loftiest peak (which is not on the axis) to the plains is 1 in 12. The elevation of the southern base of the Himalaya, that is, of the plains of India at the foot of the range, gradually rises from 350 feet in the meridian of Calcutta to 1000 feet in the Punjab; whilst to the eastward, up the Assam valley, the rise is scarcely appreciable. The elevation of the northern base in the western portion, that is, of the bed of the Indus, falls from 16,000 to 17,000 feet at the source of that river, to 11,000 at Ladak, and to 4000 or 5000 at its great bend. The elevation of the northern base of the eastern portion (that is, of the valley of the Tibetan Brahmaputra) is wholly unknown. At the source of that river it is no doubt from Himalaya 16,000 to 17,000 feet, and it has been assumed to be 13,000 feet at Shigatze; while, according to the accounts of the climate of that part of Tibet where the Brahmaputra turns S., the elevation is probably under 6000 feet.
In estimating the mean elevation of the known parts of the Himalaya, it has been usual to take the elevation of the passes as data; but in so doing a distinction must be made between the passes over the axis and those over its subsidiary ranges. There is every reason to believe that from the W. of the meridian of Kashmir to the Peak of Kailas, no part of the watershed axis is much below 18,000 feet; the four known passes being all above that elevation. Further to the W., and N. of Kashmir, a remarkable depression occurs at Zoji-la Pass, which, being broad and only 11,000 feet elevation, recalls some of the low cols over the main Alps. The elevation of the eastern part of the axis is entirely unknown. It has been but twice crossed; once by Captain Bogle in 1784, in his route to Tibet by Western Bhutan, but who left no record of his journey; and again by Turner in 1789. From the narrative of the latter we gather that the watershed itself is broad, open, and undefined to a common observer, though, from observations since made in the neighbourhood, it must be fully 17,000 feet elevation; while the elevation of the axis N. of Sikkim may be assumed to be nowhere below 18,000 feet.
The principal peaks of the Himalaya are in many cases concentrated in groups, which have a definite relation to the chief rivers, being placed on the secondary ranges; thus, there are clusters or nayds of snowy mountains between the sources of the Monas and Subansiri, with peaks of from 23,000 to 25,000 feet in height; between the Monas and the Pachu is another probably higher; westward of the Pachu is the enormous nebul, to the N. of Sikkim, with many spurs, from which rise Chumulari (23,929 feet), Donkiah (23,176 feet), and Kinchin-junga (28,178 feet), with its supporters, Junnoo (25,312), Kubra (24,005 feet), Pundim (21,300 feet), and others; which clusters separate the head waters of the Pachu, Machu, Tista, and Arun. Between the Arun and Kosi is another great group, probably not lower than the last; between the Kosi and Gandak is the nebul from which rises Gosain-than (24,740 feet); between the Gandak and Gogra is another, with Dhialagari (28,000 feet). Of the peaks on the axis N. of the Sutlej, the Kailas alone has been measured, and exceeds 22,000 feet. On the subsidiary chain S. of that river are very many peaks of above 20,000 feet; of which Nanda Devi (25,700 feet), and Kamet (25,000 feet) are the two loftiest. W. of the Sutlej many peaks on and off the axis rise above 20,000 feet; and the last of the great snowed ones, Dhiarmal (18,000 feet), occurs W. of Kashmir, close to the bend of the Indus, and termination of the chain. These peaks are for the most part situated at some distance from the axis; and their accessibility, conspicuous position, and great quantity of snow, has fixed the attention of surveyors upon them: whether any eminences on the axis attain the elevation of 28,000 feet may be reasonably doubted. Of those to the eastward absolutely nothing is known; but from the views of the axis obtained from the N. of Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan, it would appear that many there also exceed 20,000 feet.
The mineral character of the great peaks varies extremely; the loftiest known, Kinchin-junga, is apparently a stratified granite, whilst some of the first class are of gneiss, and others of limestone, of mica-schist, and of slate.
In the Himalaya every variety of temperature may be Climate met with, from a tropical heat to the cold of the poles; and every degree of humidity, from the perpetual mois-
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1 Hooker's Himalayan Journals, vol. ii., p. 171. 2 The pass by which Turner left Bhutan, and entered the valley of the Machu in Tibet, is over a subsidiary range, and does not appear to have been of very great elevation. ture of the eastern valleys to the utter aridity of Western Mountains, Tibet; nevertheless the greater part of the chain is so subject to the influence of the monsoons, which sweep along its flanks from the Brahmaputra to beyond the Sutlej, that the seasons in general correspond with those of the great Gangetic valley; and the two main divisions into hot and cold months, which further correspond with the wet and dry ones, may be traced in all parts of the range except in the driest Tibetan regions. After the commencement of the vernal equinox, brilliant weather prevails more or less in all parts of the chain, except in the eastern, where any continuance of cloudless weather is rare. The rains are ushered in by gales and thunderstorms; and when they have fairly set in, a cloudless week seldom occurs in the westward, and to the eastward is quite unknown.
In the Eastern Himalaya the rainy season commences in April or May, with the accession of the south-easterly monsoon, laden with humidity from the Bay of Bengal; by the end of May it becomes general in Nepal, and by midsummer in the extreme W. In the N.W. the rain begins to decrease about September, but in the eastern provinces can hardly be said to be over before October or November. The amount of rain deposited during this period varies extremely, but as a general rule, diminishes from E. to W. Owing to a local cause, Sikkim is the wettest province in the whole range—the Rajmahal Hills (in Bengal) partially dispersing the clouds which would otherwise descend on Nepal to the W. of it, and the Khasia range similarly sheltering Bhotan to the E. The heaviest rains fall on the outer hills, elevated from 6000 to 10,000 feet, especially where these advance in considerable masses towards the plains, whilst isolated peaks and ranges of less elevation, as well as the valleys of the great rivers, are drier. As a consequence of this, all the valleys of the interior which are separated from the plains by continuous chains, attaining an elevation of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, are to a great extent sheltered by these from the rains, which fall only as occasional showers; while those still further back, and which are bounded on the south by mountains rising everywhere to the level of perpetual snow, are absolutely without rain during the monsoon. In Sikkim and Bhotan, where the wide valleys are perpendicular to the axis of the chain, and correspond to the direction of the winds, the rains are heavy till we penetrate far into the interior; but great irregularities everywhere occur, and this even in adjacent valleys.
The maximum rain-fall probably occurs on the outer ranges of Sikkim, and exceeds 120 inches in the year at 7000 feet elevation. The amount of rain is, however, little indication of the humidity of the climate; for, though in the interior valleys very little falls at elevations corresponding with those which are deluged on the outer ranges, the fogs and drizzle which prevail, and which are not measured by the rain-gauge, sometimes obscure the sun's rays for many days in succession.
Towards the autumnal equinox, as the decreasing declination of the sun gradually changes the direction of the wind, the atmosphere becomes drier, and the cessation of the rains is marked by violent tempests.
During the winter the weather is unsettled; for whilst the N.E. monsoon is blowing over the lower parts of India, an upper current of south-westerly wind carries its moisture to the higher mountains, where it is condensed in the form of snow; and there is also a short rainy season towards the end of December, in the more humid provinces. In spring, as the sun's declination increases, and the Gangetic plain and Punjab again become heated, low currents of dry south-westerly winds often rush in the afternoons with violence up the Himalayan valleys, and obscure the distant prospect with a strong haze.
The local Himalayan winds are confined to a diurnal current of heated air which rushes up the valleys during the day, and is always experienced on the axis of the chain as Himalaya, a violent southerly wind; and a return cold current at night, blowing with much less violence and regularity down the valleys. These winds increase in regularity and intensity as the valleys are ascended, and as the difference increases between the temperatures of day and night; the diurnal current being least marked in winter, and the nocturnal one in summer. The other phenomena of cloud, rain, and fog, which prevail in the Himalaya, are common to all mountain countries, and require no detailed account.
The mean temperature of the base of the Himalaya diminishes from 74° in the meridian of Calcutta, to about 70° ture, in the western extremity of the range. At that end it is not so low as the increase of latitude would indicate, owing to the increase of the mass of land in that direction, which becomes excessively heated in summer; hence the isothermals are curved, with their convexity to the N.W. during all seasons of the year, but most so in summer, as the equator of heat trends so far to the northward of the terrestrial equator in summer as to impinge upon the base of the Himalaya in July, when its mean temperature rises almost to 86°. In midwinter again the mean temperature falls to about 60°.
The diminution of temperature in ascending is about 1° for every 350 or 400 feet of elevation in the more humid parts of the chain, and 1° for every 400 feet in the drier parts; the ratio of diminution is most rapid in the loftiest elevations, and more rapid in winter than in summer, owing to the effect of the warm S. wind. In these respects the Himalaya differs from other mountain ranges, as the Alps for instance, as it does also both in the annual and diurnal range of temperature increasing with the elevation, and in the effect of radiation being greatest in winter, all of which are due to the interference of the heavy rains and clouds of summer.
The following is an attempt to approximate (within a few degrees), to the mean temperature, and range of the thermometer, in the province of Sikkim:
| Altitude | Mean temp. in Shade | Mean range | Mean coldest | Mean hottest | Range of range | Rate of fall in ins. | Rate of diminution of temperature | |----------|---------------------|------------|-------------|--------------|---------------|-------------------|----------------------------------| | 7,500 feet | 50° | 62°7 | 40° | 13°9 | 12°6 | 1°=200 feet | | 11,000 ... | 40°9 | 50°4 | 24°0 | 20°9 | 1°=320 ... | | 15,000 ... | 29°8 | 40°0 | 11°0 | 27°0 | 2°=350 ... | | 19,000 ... | 19°8 | 32°0 | 0°0 | 35°0 | 1°=400 ... |
The elevation of the snow-line is about 16,000 feet on Snow-line, the southern or outer snowed ranges throughout the whole length of the chain; the depression at the eastern extremity, which is in a lower latitude, being attributable to the convexity of the isothermals and the greater fall of snow. It rises to 20,000 feet on the loftier eminences towards and behind the axis. In winter the snow descends to 10,000 feet, and lies there for about a month, probably throughout the range; and sporadic falls have been experienced as low as 5000 feet in the central provinces, and 1000 in the western.
The glacial phenomena are everywhere the same as in the Alps of Europe and elsewhere, the descent of the glaciers being modified by the breadth, form, and slope of the valleys they occupy, and the extent, &c., of their feeders: in the Western Himalaya they descend to 11,000 feet, though rarely; while in the eastern and central parts they have not been met with below 14,000.
That the climate of the whole Himalaya has been greatly altered within a comparatively recent period, is proved by the ancient moraines of great size, and other glacial evidences, which are found as low down as 8000 or 9000 feet in the valleys of all the great rivers. The barometric tides in the Himalaya are greatly modified by the rains; but the times of maximum pressure (9:00 A.M. and P.M.) and minimum (4 A.M. and P.M.), and the hourly oscillations, are much the same at all elevations. The amplitude of the oscillations decreases from 0:10 inch at the base of the range to 0:074 at 7500 feet, and 0:050 at 14,000 or 15,000 feet. The amplitude is greatest in the spring months, least in June and July, and rises again in autumn. The pressure of dry air shows but one annual maximum (in December) and one minimum (in July), and one diurnal maximum at the coldest hour of the twenty-four, and one diurnal minimum in the afternoon.
The effects of diminished pressure on the human frame are the same in the Himalaya as in other mountain regions; the unaccustomed traveller first experiences slight giddiness at 13,000 or 14,000 feet, with nausea, headache, and lassitude at 14,000 or 15,000 feet, while the pulse often rises to 120 per minute—symptoms which increase with the elevation, and violently so upon any exertion, but wear off with practice. Upon horseback, if the pace is gentle, 19,000 feet may be attained without inconvenience; and after living for a day or two at 16,000 feet, ascents to 20,000 feet may be made slowly and cautiously on foot, without other inconvenience than lassitude. Some individuals suffer more than others, but even the Tibetan inhabitants of 15,000 feet always have headache in walking over passes of 18,000. Bleeding at the nose and ears has never been experienced by any practised traveller in health, and is unknown amongst the natives.
Of the Geology of the Himalaya little can be said; for though some of the provinces have been well studied, of the majority nothing whatever is known. The strike of the rocks throughout appears to be N.W., and the dip N.E.; but this is liable to many local exceptions, the dip especially being extremely variable. At the south base of the range, spurs of sandstones and conglomerates occur, rising immediately out of the gravelly deposits which are intercalated with the alluvium of the plains of India. These sandstones have been represented as occurring along a great portion of the range, though there is no evidence to show that those of the eastern and western parts of the chain are of the same age. Some of those of Kumaon (Sewaliks) are referable to the miocene age, and contain the remains of species of bos, camel, giraffe, hippopotamus, dinotherium, mastodon, sivatherium, many antelopes and other ruminants, various carnivora, anoptotherium, several monkeys, seven species of elephants, crocodiles, and the gigantic tortoise, whose shell measures 20 feet across. The sandstones at the foot of the Sikkim hills in the meridian of Calcutta are probably referable to the same age as the coal formations of Behar and Central India, indications of similar fossils having been found in both. The dip of these rocks is almost always to the mountains, as is often that of the succeeding metamorphic rocks, and which, though probably of far older formation, appear to overlie them.
Metamorphic rocks, consisting of beds of mica-schist with garnets, clay-slate, quartz, gneiss, and occasional veins of granite, acquire an enormous development, often rising into the loftiest peaks of the central region, and forming the mass of the mountains in those parts of the range which have been best explored. These are overlaid again by slates, and in Kumaon by Silurian beds succeeded by rocks which are referable to the colite series, abounding in some places in ammonites and belemnites.
In the larger river valleys towards the axis of the chain, tertiary beds are again met with, overlying the oolitic and metamorphic ones, and containing, to the north of Kumaon, at 15,000 feet elevation, fossils analogous to those of the Sewaliks, at the south base of the mountains. Specimens of these, brought to England by Captain R. Strachey, have been referred to extinct species of horse, rhinoceros, elephant, hippopotamus, &c.
Of eruptive rocks granite is abundant throughout the Himalaya chain, and dykes of greenstone and basalt occur to the westward. In the extreme Western Himalaya of Tibet, fossil shells of the pleistocene or post-pleistocene age, have been found in lacustrine clays by Dr. Thomson, on the flanks of mountains bordering both lakes and rivers, high above the level of the waters; some of these, chiefly species of Lymnaea and Planorbis, are closely allied to existing Himalayan species, if not identical with them, and indicate the retirement of extensive bodies of fresh water from those regions at a comparatively recent period. Glacial deposits are found in all the Himalayan valleys above 8000 or 9000 feet elevation, in the form of transported boulders and enormous moraines, attesting the former extension of glaciers fully 6000 feet below their present limits. These phenomena so entirely resemble those of the Alps, that they require no detailed account.
Attempts have been made to draw conclusions in physical geography and geology from the relations of the river-beds (regarding them as fissures) to the strike of the rocks in the chain, and to the lines of upheaval of the main and subsidiary ranges, but hitherto without success. One fact alone is obvious, that the direction of the strike, which appears to be tolerably uniform throughout about 1000 miles of the chain, cuts both the main range and its secondary ones obliquely at an acute angle, and is not modified by the varying direction of the range; whence it follows that it cuts the river basins obliquely also. Until, however, more is known of the relative ages of the rocks composing the range, and their exact relations to one another, no conclusions can be arrived at. The order of superposition has been traced in Kumaon alone, by Captain R. Strachey; and though the geology of this province will no doubt soon be connected with that of the countries to the westward of it, there is at present no prospect of any addition being made to our knowledge of either the geography or geology of by far the more extensive portion of the Himalaya, which stretches for 1000 miles E. of that province.
In mineral products the Himalaya is remarkably poor, so minerals, far as is at present known. There is nothing which can compare in abundance or value with the mines of the Ural, Andes, or European Alps. Red haematite is worked with profit in Kumaon, and copper exists in Nepal and the Sikkim hills. Iron (disseminated) occurs in various places, and graphite is common. Salt, borax, and soda are procured in abundance in the dry climate of Tibet, where they are articles of commerce; there also gold-washing is carried on upon a most limited scale. Gold is known to be extremely abundant in many parts of Eastern Tibet, where, however, the jealousy of the Chinese government prevents its being worked. Slates, lime, gypsum, lead, sulphur, and magnesia, are also Himalayan products.
There is a surprising and almost total absence of gems, or minerals of rarity or beauty in the Himalaya; garnets, actinolites, and tourmalines, are perhaps the only exceptions of frequent occurrence, and these are of the coarsest description.
Hot springs abound, chiefly at elevations of 10,000 to 18,000 feet; they usually emit sulphured hydrogen gas, and maintain temperatures of 100° to 130°. There is no active volcano anywhere in the range, nor any traces of extinct ones. Some of the districts, especially towards the N.W., have been visited by violent earthquakes, but these do not appear to be connected with any endemic phenomena; they have generally commenced far S. of the Himalaya, and have been propagated across the range. Remarkable local subsidences and elevations have occurred in the valley of the Jhelum in Kashmir, which have been described by Dr. Thomson (Tibet, p. 291).
Vegetation.—This may be altitudinally divided into tropical, temperate, and alpine; and latitudinally into exterior. The tropical belt extends from the Terai to 6000, and even 7000 feet in the humid central provinces; and to 3000 to 4000 in the extreme western. It consists of a luxuriant forest of Malayan and insular types of trees in the eastern provinces, which to a great extent disappear to the westward, where they are partially replaced by Persian, Egyptian and Afghanistan types—amongst these trees the palms, plantains, tree-ferns, sal (Shorea robusta), sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo), toon (Cedrela Toona), and some oaks, are the most conspicuous, and commercially the most important, especially to the eastward.
The temperate belt extends from 5000 feet to the upper limit of forest, which varies from 12,000 to 13,000 feet, according to the dryness of the climate. It abounds in European, Levantine, and Chinese genera and even species, with but few Malayan mountain ones; of these the European are most abundant in the western provinces, and the Chinese and Japanese in the eastern, where are also a few American genera, and some belonging to the Malayan and insular mountain flora. Amongst the most conspicuous plants of this region are oaks, birch, maple, apple, hornbeam, poplar, ash, cherry, alder, celtis, pine, juniper, yew, willow, and pines (Abies Webbiana and Brunoniana), which abound throughout the range; besides which, there are to the westward of Nepal, deodar, Pinus Gerardiana, hawthorn, cypress, horse-chestnut, olive, myrtle, evergreen oak, sloe, black poplar, and many other European genera and even species; whilst to the eastward, laurel, magnolia, rhododendron, larch, Abies Brunoniana, and chestnut, more especially prevail.
The alpine belt, which commences above the forest region, ascends in extreme cases to 19,000 feet; it abounds in Siberian, Polar, and European alpine plants throughout the whole extent of the chain, the European species and genera being most prevalent to the W.
Several hundred common English plants are also natives of the Himalaya, and especially of the temperate and alpine zones; and the total number of flowering plants inhabiting the whole range probably amounts to 5000 or 7000 species.
Cultivation in the Himalaya is carried on as high as 14,000, and even 15,000 feet, where summer crops of wheat and barley exist in Tibet, but quite exceptionally; also buckwheat, turnips, radishes, mustard, potatoes, and various pulses, are grown abundantly between 8000 and 12,000 feet, as summer crops. Rice, maize, millet, and other tropical cereals, are grown below 6000 feet, with buck-wheat, and various species of chenopodium, yams, capsicum, egg-apple, legumes, and sugar-cane.
The Himalayan fruits cultivated by the natives in the eastern and central provinces are plantains, oranges, pineapples, walnuts, indifferent peaches and apples; in the western, excellent apples, pears, apricots, peaches, cherries, mulberries, grapes, and walnuts.
The cultivation of tea is now successfully carried on on a large scale in the Western Himalaya, at elevations of 2000 to 5000 feet, and might probably be pursued with more or less success in all parts of the chain.
The timber trees of the Himalaya are extremely numerous, but few of them are of great value, and some of the best inhabit inaccessible regions. The sal (Shorea robusta) is decidedly the most valuable; and, from growing at the foot of the hills, close to water-carrage, is the only one much felled for export. The toon (Cedrela Toona) and sissoo (Dalbergia Sissoo) are also exported from the same regions; and the deodar and other conifers from the north-western provinces. The other pines, the walnut, oaks, and the chestnuts, mostly produce indifferent timber; but, though there are exceptions, the use of these is principally confined to the neighbourhood where they grow. Of ornamental woods, few are known, and none are in general use. Bamboos prevail everywhere, and rattan-canee to the eastward. Himalaya Owing, probably, to the humid climate, the woods of European genera are, almost without exception, inferior to those of their western allies. Teak is unknown in the Himalaya; and the other woods of Eastern Bengal and of both the Indian peninsulas are either confined to the malarious forests of Assam, or are altogether absent. The vegetable economic products are also very few and unimportant—such as spices, gums, resins, oils, waxes, fibres, and other textile materials. Of drugs, the baneeful aconite and hemp are the best known; interior rhubarb, and a few bitters of secondary importance in the pharmacopoeia, are also collected for export. Attempts have been made to cultivate drugs for the use of the Indian medical establishments, but hitherto with very limited success. Wild madder is extensively collected and exported, as are bamboos, canes, and a few other products; and latelier potatoes in Sikkim. There is no doubt that the vegetable riches of these extensive regions are but very little known, and are capable of immense extension; but hitherto the efforts have been limited. On the northern or Tibetan parts of the range the trees are extremely few and small, and confined to willows, poplars, junipers, elaeagnus, and tamarisk; and of bushes, the well-known dama or furze, that supplies fuel, is the most familiar to travellers.
The Zoology of the Himalaya is very extensive, and the Zoology laws of distribution are the same as those of the vegetable kingdom; thus Malayan genera of quadrupeds, birds, and insects, inhabit the tropical belt, diminishing in variety and number towards the west. In the temperate zone European types predominate, with a large admixture of Chinese and Japanese forms to the eastward. Siberian forms prevail in the alpine zone, and throughout both eastern and western Tibet. The most remarkable animals are in the tropical zone; the tiger, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, and many species of deer, monkey, wild boar, and bovine animals. In the temperate zone are other species of deer and monkey, bears, wild cats, squirrels, &c. In the alpine zone, and chiefly in the Tibetan climate, the wild ass or kiang, musk-deer, ibex, antelopes, hare, several wild sheep and goats, marmot, lemming, fox, wolf, ounce, lynx, weasel, polecat, and many smaller animals, abound. The domestic animals are the yak and its hybrids with other bovines, ponies, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs of a mastiff breed, goats, and fowls, and occasionally bees; of these the yak is the most remarkable, and is the domestic form of a wild animal of greater dimensions found in various parts of Tibet; it is used as a beast of burden for all purposes, for milk, and for beef.
Shells are rare in the Himalaya, but do exist, and even at 16,000 to 17,000 feet elevation, in fresh water.
Insects are extremely abundant at all elevations, and leeches abound up to 10,000 feet in the eastern provinces.
The rivers are generally too rapid for much fishing; but many species of Cyprinide especially abound from the level of the plains to 15,000 feet elevation; with a remarkable break, however, between 5000 to 10,000 feet, between which levels fish are said to be rare, or almost unknown, in most of the rivers. Salmonidae are unknown in any Himalayan river; the so-called trouts being all species of carp. The eastern Tibetan lakes swarm with fish at 10,000 to 14,000 feet elevation.
The economic animal products are coarse silk, called tusser, from a native moth bred at the foot of the hills; shawl wool from Tibet, and musk from the alpine regions.
It is impossible to make more than a brief allusion to the numerous Himalayan races, whose very numbers are as yet unknown, and the origin of most of which is involved in obscurity. The majority, however, may be safely referred to the Mongolian race, with, in some cases, more or less of admixture with the Indo-Germanic. Of these the Tibetans are perhaps numerically the greatest; and they occupy the largest area—namely, Eastern Tibet, which is exclusively peopled by them; Western Tibet to a great extent, and all the loftier Himalayan valleys above 8000 feet elevation. They are generally an honest, hardy, hospitable, cheerful people, but indolent, unwarlike, and filthy in the extreme, both in their persons and houses. All are Lama Buddhists. The Bhutanese are perhaps more closely allied to these than any other Himalayan race, and are also all Lama Buddhists. They are more industrious than the Tibetans, but are turbulent, treacherous, dishonest, and sullen in disposition. The Nepalese are chiefly Hindus, as are many of the dominant races of the lower outer Western Himalaya, and are divided into many castes or classes, military, agricultural, pastoral, &c. Throughout the Western Himalaya are many Mussulmen. Numberless uncivilized tribes inhabit the eastern and central provinces; but, with the exception of the Abus of Eastern Bhotan, none are in an absolutely savage state. The others are the Lepchas, a timid Mongolian race inhabiting Sikkim, and the Limboos, Murmis, Halaos, Cooches, Bodos, Dhimals, and a host of other tribes, presenting various combinations of the Indo-Chinese, Mongolian, and Tamil, or aboriginal race of India. These chiefly inhabit the eastern provinces, and, with the exception of the Lepchas, none form a distinct nation; the rest are mixed off with the Nepalese, Lepchas, and Bhotanese, and are subject to the sovereigns of these tribes. Some of these are the remnants of the aborigines of the Himalaya, and claim a very early origin. For detailed information on these subjects, and on the zoology in general, we must refer to Mr Hodgson, whose works on these subjects have a European reputation.
The principal British stations in the Himalaya are situated at elevations of 6000 or 8000 feet above the sea level, where the climate approximates to that of England. These are all healthy, and well adapted to the European constitution; and though neither objects of particular solicitude nor of sufficiently systematic resort by the British residents in India, they are of the highest value, and the conviction of this is gradually forcing itself upon the public mind. Whether as a means of civilizing the neighbouring hill-states, or of extending our commercial relations with Tibet and Central Asia, or as affording healthy sites for schools, hospitals, and depots for invalid or unseasoned troops, they are worthy of the especial care of the government. It cannot be doubted that the Himalaya will one day become peopled by colonies of the English race, sprung in part from officers of the East India Company's service, and others who, long accustomed to the habits of the East, and with all their friends and associations in India, prefer a retirement in the immediate neighbourhood of the scenes and friends of their later life, to seeking new friends, and remodelling their habits in England. Of these hill Sanataria, the most important, proceeding westerly, are—Darjiling, elev. 7000 to 8000 feet, in Sikkim; Naini-tal, 6000 to 7000 feet; and Almora, 5000 to 6000 feet, in Kumaon; Masuri, 6000 to 7000 feet, in Garhwal; Simla, 7000 to 8000 feet, in Simore; Kangra, 7000 to 8000 feet, in the Byas Valley; and Murree, 7000 to 8000 feet, between the Indus and Jhelum. (J. R. N.)