The Panjab North West Frontier Province And Kashmir

· 1916 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1II] MOUNTAINS. HILLS, AND PLAINS 27

2the general elevation of the chain drops steadily. But

3Fort Munro, the hill station of the Dera Ghdzf Kh4n

4district, 200 miles south of the Takht, still stands 6300

5feet above sea level, and it looks across at the fine peak

6of Ekbhai, which is more than 1000 feet higher. In the

7south of the Dera Ghizf Khdn district the general level

8of the chain is low, and the Giandari hill, though only

94160 feet above the sea, stands out conspicuously. Finally

10near where the three jurisdictions meet the hills melt

11into the Kachh Ganddva plain. Sir Thomas Holdich’s

12description of the rugged Pathdn hills applies also to

13the Suliman range. Kaisargarh is a fine limestone

14mountain crowned by a forest of the edible chilgoza

15pine. But the ordinary tree growth, where found at

16all, is of a much humbler kind, consisting of gnarled

17olives ajid dwarf palms.

18Passes and torrents in Suliman Hills. — ^The drainage

19of the western slopes of the Suliman range finding no

20exit on that side has had to wear out ways for itself

21towards the plains which lie between the foot of the hills

22and the Indus. This is the explanation of the large

23number of passes, about one hundred, which lead from

24the plains into the Suliman hills. The chief from north

25to south are the Vehoa, the Sangarh, the Khair, the

26Kaha, the Chdchar, and the Sirf, called from the torrents

27which flow through them to the plains. There is an

28easy route through the Chdchar to Biluchistin. But

29unfortunately the water of the torrent is brackish.

30I;*' Sub Himdlaya or Siwaliks. — In its lowest ridges the

31Himalaya drops to a height of about 5000 feet. But

32the traveller to any of the summer resorts in the mountains

33passes through a zone of lower hills interspersed sometimes

34with valleys or " duns.” These consist of Tertiary

35sandstones, clays, and boulder conglomerates, the d 4 bris

36in fact which the HimMaya has dropped in the course