INDIA 
and are expected in essential matters to follow the advice of a resident British 
official. . The chief States are Kashmir, Haidarakad, Mysore, Baluchistan, Rajpu- 
tana, and Central India, of which the two last comprise many minor States, 
(3) The independent States of Nepal and Bhutan. 
THE NORTHERN RANGES. 
“Ridge behind ridge, higher and higher, tier above tier, with ribs of rock and 
crests of snow and deep-Iying valleys of ice-bound splendour.' —Sır MARTIN 
Conwar. 
‘ Thickets of bamboo, with graceful light-green foliage, beautify the lower valleys. 
Higher up the grey ilex, mountain oaks, cedars, drooping silver firs, pines, ches ‘nust, 
walnuts, and maples, not to mention a hundred trees of lower growth hung with 
bridal veils of clematis in spring, and festooned with erimson Virginia creepers in 
autumn, form, with patches of white medlar blossom, a brilliant contrast to masses 
of scarlet and pink rhododendron.’—Sır W. HUNTER. . N 
The plateaux which flank India on the north and north-west end in 2 
series of lofty ranges descending with steep slopes to the plains of the 
Indus and Ganges. On the east these turn southwards and traverse the 
Indo-China peninsula. 
The chief ranges which appear to radiate from the Pamirs in 
the north are: (1) The Hindu Kush, which is separated from the 
Koh-i-Baba Range in Afghanistan by the Bamian_ Pass, leading from 
the Kabul Valley to that of the Upper Amu. South of the Kabul Valley 
is the noted Khaibar Pass defile over thirty miles long, through 
which a road has been constructed ; but the railway has not advanced 
much beyond the military station of Peshawar, which guards this 
route. (2) The Sulaiman Range, which lies between the Khaibar Pass 
and a westward bend in the plateau of Baluchistan, forming a natural 
route followed by the railway from the Indus Valley to Quetta. (3) The 
Hala Mountains, which extend as an unbrokenr wall nearly to the coast. 
(4) The Karakorum Range forms the northern boundary of the Upper 
Indus Valley, and can only be crossed by very difficult, high passes—the 
chief being the Karakorum Pass, on the route northwards from Leh to 
the Tarim basin. "This pass is over 18,000 feet high—4.e., about three and 
a half miles. (5) The Himalayas are a series of parallel ranges, 
extending for a distance of about 1,500 miles between the southward 
bends of the Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers, Their average height is 
over three miles, while some of the peaks are over five. Mount Everest