KASHMIR AND THE HIMALAYAS III

on the north. Accepting this definition, the Himalayas
extend along the northern frontier of India for about
1500 miles, with a varying breadth of 150 to 200 miles.
Throughout this length they are dominated by one conspicuous
 main chain, which, under the name of Zaskar
(in Kashmir), includes all the most prominent snow-clad
peaks from Haramosh (16,900 feet), on the north-west,
to Kanchanjanga (28,176 feet) and Everest (29,002 feet),
on the south-east.
Some authorities maintain that this central range
extends beyond the Indus to the north-west, and includes

Wain !

Fra, 1%.

The Rend -fh- tndu-Nanga

 Parbat and other high peaks overlooking the
Gilgit basin from the south. This theory involves the
assumption that the Indus River (maintaining its course
through prehistoric ages whilst the mountain system was
in gradual process of evolution) splits the main chain
apart at the point where it changes from a north-westerly to
a south- westerly direction near the junction of the Gilgit
River—a phenomenon which is undoubtedly repeated by
the Sutlej River and the Gandak in the Central Himalayas.
This, however, is certainly not true of the Brahmaputra on
the extreme east, which river has clearly been diverted from
an original primeval course towards China by the recent
formation of the close parallel folds of the mountains