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INDIA

of the Karnatic to stretch almost unbroken to the Bay of
Bengal.
To the north of the line of the Western Ghats, but
thrown back at an angle which gives them a north-easterly
and south-westerly trend, is an isolated range, flanking the
eastern deserts of Rajputana and dividing them from the
native states of Central India, called the Aravalli range,
the primeval range of India. Mount Abu (the highest
point of the range) is 5000 feet above sea-level, an altitude
which ensures a climate suitable for the small hill-station
which occupies the highest slopes and clusters round the
ancient rock cut temples, overlooking vast stretches of
plain to east and west. The Aravalli is but the most
southern link of a system in which straight rocky ridges,
more or less isolated by stretches of intervening sand,
follow the same strike and crop up in parallel lines of
small elevation through the length of Eastern Rajputana.
In general appearance this formation is that of a range,
connected and continuous, but which has been overwhelmed
 by an encroaching sand sea. The flood of sand
has filled up its valleys, and drifted in long smooth slopes
against its crest until it has left nothing but lines of narrow
jagged peaks to mark its position. The Vindhyas, the
Aravalli range, the Western Ghats, and the Nilgiris, with
the final southern extension culminating in the Anamali
Hills, are the chief mountain masses of the Indian Peninsula
 south of the Himalayas. Hidden amongst them are
many spots of rare beauty, many a group of magnificent
peaks clothed with an infinite variety of forest vegetation,
the recesses of which are known but to the district official.
the sportsman, or the forest officer.
The river systems of India may be grouped as
follows :—
(1) The Indus system on the north-west.
(2) The Ganges and Brahmaputra on the north-east.
(3) The Narbada, Tapti, Son, and Mahanadi in the
central group.
(4) The Godavari, Kistna and others in the southern,
system.