HIMALEH, or HIMALAYA (literally the Seat of Snow), sometimes HIMACHAL (Snowy Mountains), are the names given to a vast range of lofty moun tains which separates India from the two Thibets, and forms the highest part of that extended chain, which was known to the ancient writers of Europe by the names of Imam or Emodus ; being, in all pro bability, a corruption of the Sanscrit name; as " Imaus," says Pliny, " in the language of the na tives, signifies snowy." If we consider the Himalaya as extending from the defile near Cashmere through which the Setlij or Sutledge flows, to that through which the Brama pootra passes, the length will be, from north-west to south-east, nearly 1000 British miles ; the western extremity being about the latitude 32°, and longi tude 77° ; the eastern about the latitude 24°, and longitude 95°. Through the whole of this extent their snow-capt summits present a succession of peaks of great but unequal elevation, some of which, m the fine pure atmosphere of Hindostan, are visible at an almost incredible distance. " The southern most ridge of the Bootan mountains," says Major Rennell, " rises near a mile and a half perpendicular above the plains of Bengal, in a horizontal distance of only fifteen miles ; and, from the summit, the as tonished traveller looks back on the plains, as on an extensive ocean beneath him." Beyond is a chain of peaks still higher, which, he adds, "are visible from the plains of Bengal, at the distance of 150 miles, and are commonly covered with snow." From these ex pressions, and from his conclusion of their being " in point of elevation equal to any of the mountains of the old hemisphere," it is quite clear, that this ce lebrated geographer had no adequate idea of their real height.
On the northern termination of the plains of Hin dostan is a narrow belt of a thickly wooded, swampy country, called Terrana, between which, and the base of the great Himalaya chain, lies a broad tract of a rugged mountainous region, from 60 to 100 miles in width, full of fertile and well peopled valleys, and once divided into a number of petty states, which are now mostly absorbed by the Bri tish or the Chinese empires ; the latter at least lay ing claim to some of the hilly countries to the south of the Himalaya, as tributary states, to which our re cent conquests have brought us into immediate con tact. Beginning at the westward, the principal of these states were Sirinagur, Almora, Kemaoon, Gorkah, Nepaul, and Bootan ; all of these are parts of the mountainous belt, and their towns and for tresses occupy the summits of hills rising to the height of 4000 to 6000 feet ; and many of the shoulders or abutments which connect these hills with the lofty range of Himalaya are from 8000 to 14,000 feet high. The great extent of these moun tain masses produces a greater degree of cold in winter than would probably be found in the same degree of latitude in Europe at an equal eleva tion ; and, as will presently appear, a greater de gree of heat also. In the middle of winter the snow covers the summits of those inferior hills, and falls sometimes even in the interjacent valleys ; but the climate, in every part of this mountainous re gion, is delightfully fine, and almost all the species of European vegetables are found in a native state, and growing in the greatest luxuriance. In fact,
since we have had free access to the base of the Hi malaya range, it has been discovered, that the gene ral character of the vegetation corresponds very nearly with that of the middle and southern parts of Europe, and that a very large portion of the trees and shrubs of the latter are indigenous in the former; such as pines of various species, oaks, chesnuts, horse-chesnuts, walnuts, birch, the hazel, the rasp. berry, gooseberry, bilberry, barberry, and straw berries. Many of the flowering shrubs, and the humbler plants, as the polyanthus, anemone, and ranunculus, the common and lemon thyme, mint, sweet basil, and a great variety of other aromatic plants, clothe the sides of the hills, and shed their fragrant odours around : Moorcroft mentions the furze (Ulex Europea), which was supposed not to be met with out of Europe. These hills may be considered as the roots and branches of the great stem, all of them connected more or less remote ly with it, and, appearing at a distance, when seen from the plains of Hindostan, as a succession of inferior ranges ; but, on entering the cotmtry, " the whole," says Mr Frazer, " becomes a confused and chaotic assemblage of most rugged mountains, hud dled into masses and peaks, and running into ridges which defy arrangement." • The highest peaks of the Himalaya mountains had long been noticed before it was known or even con what their absoluteheight might be abovethe level of the sea. All the information respecting them that could be obtained was derived from Hindoo pil grims, who annually flocked to pay their devotions at the shrine of some deity, presiding over the va rious wild and awful features of these elevated re gions. To a people gifted, like the Hintiuos, with strong imaginative faculties, the snow-capt summits of the Himalaya mountains, and the numerous tor rents issuing from their bosom, which, when united into one grand stream, carried fertility over their extensive plains, could not fail to become so many varied objects of their veneration. From the ac counts of these people, the main branch of the Ganges was represented to issue from a chasm or cavern in the side of the mountains, to which, from its supposed resemblance to the mouth of an animal sacred in the ritual of their faith, was given the name of the Cow's Mouth. This cavern was suppos ed to perforate quite through the great chain of mountains, and the source of the Ganges to be in a lake on the other side, considerably to the eastward of the Cow's Mouth. This lake was named Manon sarowar, and was held sacred ; and under the im pression of the relation of pilgrims being correct, the source and the passage of the Ganges were laid down in the most improved maps of Hindostan.