1 2 LADAKH.
2 Into this main valley others of less dimensions open, being
3 drained by the rivers which discharge themselves into the Indus.
4 Of these, ‘he principal are the Shy Yok on the north, the Zans-
5 kar on the south. There is a general though very irregular
6 slope of the country from the south-east, lying about the upper
7 course of the Indus, to the north-west, where that great river
8 crosses the frontier into Bultistan. The whole of Ladakh is
9 included within the drainage system of the Indus, with the ex-
10 ception of Spiti, which is drained by the river of the same
11 * Lioyd andGe- name, a tributary of the Sutlej;3 and the small basins drained
12 Pee into the respective lakes of Chamorreril and Pangking. The
13 wur, 29. most elevated mountains are in the east and south-east, where
14 some rise to heights probably superior to those of any summits
15 on the face of the globe. Lloyd, describing the mountains of
16 Spiti, on the left bank of the Indus, observes :—‘‘ The summits
17 of this highest range have been estimated, upon good grounds,
18 by the Gerards, who alone have explored many portions of
19 these wild recesses, to rise to the enormous elevation of 30,000
20 tee = feet.” 4 To the east, at no great distance from the frontier of
21 ius.” Ladakh, rises the celebrated Kangree, or Kylas, also having
22 ior Koona- the estimated height of 30,000 feet.5 In the south of Zanskar
23 6 Kaschmir, i. are the vast peaks Mer and Ser, considered by Hiigel® the highest
24 Beant: summits from the Sutlej to the Indus. The mountains of Kara-
25 korum or Mooz Taugh, on the north side of the valley of the
26 Indus, are believed by the natives to be of much less height than
27 those just mentioned. Vigne, who has done much more than
28 any other European towards exploring them, learned from native
29 report that, at the pass into Yarkund, they are without snow
30 for the greater part of the year, and he concludes their height to
31 7 Kashmir, ii. 364. be somewhat under 15,000 feet.” A little farther west, however,
32 i ve. Kashmir, this enterprising traveller ascended to the height of 16,000 feet.8
33 94417. Moorcroft® states the confluence of the Zanskar river and the
34 Indus, near the western frontier, to be nearly 12,000 feet above
35 the sea, and we may safely conclude that the elevation of no part
36 of Ladakh is less than 10,000, that of few parts less than
37 15,000, and that a few summits approach the enormous height
38 of 30,000 feet. At the eastern extremity, is the very ele-
39 vated and dreary plain or table-land through which the upper
40 part of the Indus holds its course, and which, terminated to
41 the east by the colossal Kylas, stretches to the north-east into