DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20132#0521
GEOGKAPHICAL C0NFIGTJEATI0NS.
487
Its central 'part is formed by the gradual rising of the ground in the environs
of the lakes Mansaraur and Rakus Tal, the average height being 15,400 ft.
The western part is drained by the Indus and Satlej rivers, with their affluents;
it comprises Grnari Khorsum, Ladak, and Balti. The principal towns of these pro-
vinces are: Gartok (15,090 ft.), Leh (11,527 ft,), and Skardo (7,255 ft,).
The unusual height of some of the valleys of Western Tibet, as compared with
those in other parts of the globe, may not improbably have a considerable share in
the erroneous belief deduced from early reports as to this country being almost ex-
clusively a plateau.
Instances of two river-systems belonging to one general longitudinal depression
are not unfrequent on a minor scale, though Tibet must be considered perhaps as
the largest form of this kind. In the Alps, the Upper Engadin with the Yal Bergell,
and the valley of the Vorder-Rhine with that of the Rhone, can be mentioned as
somewhat analogous.
Between the Karakorum and the Kuenluen, especially near the western crest of
the former, several well defined plateaux of extraordinary height occur. Some of the
highest are called: Dapsang (17,500 ft.), Bullu (16,883 ft.), Aksae Chin (16,620 ft.),
Vohab (16,419 ft). In Balti, the plateau Deosai is 14,200 ft. high.
In the Andes are to be found, if not the highest, at least the most extensive
plateaux of our globe, which generally lie along the very ridge of the mountains.
Their average heights differ but little from those of the towns mentioned above.1
There is also a large plateau surrounding the elevated lake Titicaca (12,843 ft.).
In the Alps, plateaux occur only at their base; the Swiss plateau having a mean
height of 1,460 ft., the Suevo-Bavarian plateau of 1,420 ft.2 It is here that the prin-
cipal Alpine lakes are situated. In the Himalaya there are no such picturescpie plains
adorning the foot of the mountains. The watershed between the Indus and the Granges
is altogether upon a lower level, and no connection with the Himalaya exists, similar
to that between the Swiss plateau and the Alps.
Lakes are comparatively rare in India, but large "Jhils" are occasionally to be
seen, especially in the river systems of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, For the most
1 See p. 481.
2 Hermann and Adolphe: "Phys. Geogr. d. Alpen." Vol. II., p. 577.
487
Its central 'part is formed by the gradual rising of the ground in the environs
of the lakes Mansaraur and Rakus Tal, the average height being 15,400 ft.
The western part is drained by the Indus and Satlej rivers, with their affluents;
it comprises Grnari Khorsum, Ladak, and Balti. The principal towns of these pro-
vinces are: Gartok (15,090 ft.), Leh (11,527 ft,), and Skardo (7,255 ft,).
The unusual height of some of the valleys of Western Tibet, as compared with
those in other parts of the globe, may not improbably have a considerable share in
the erroneous belief deduced from early reports as to this country being almost ex-
clusively a plateau.
Instances of two river-systems belonging to one general longitudinal depression
are not unfrequent on a minor scale, though Tibet must be considered perhaps as
the largest form of this kind. In the Alps, the Upper Engadin with the Yal Bergell,
and the valley of the Vorder-Rhine with that of the Rhone, can be mentioned as
somewhat analogous.
Between the Karakorum and the Kuenluen, especially near the western crest of
the former, several well defined plateaux of extraordinary height occur. Some of the
highest are called: Dapsang (17,500 ft.), Bullu (16,883 ft.), Aksae Chin (16,620 ft.),
Vohab (16,419 ft). In Balti, the plateau Deosai is 14,200 ft. high.
In the Andes are to be found, if not the highest, at least the most extensive
plateaux of our globe, which generally lie along the very ridge of the mountains.
Their average heights differ but little from those of the towns mentioned above.1
There is also a large plateau surrounding the elevated lake Titicaca (12,843 ft.).
In the Alps, plateaux occur only at their base; the Swiss plateau having a mean
height of 1,460 ft., the Suevo-Bavarian plateau of 1,420 ft.2 It is here that the prin-
cipal Alpine lakes are situated. In the Himalaya there are no such picturescpie plains
adorning the foot of the mountains. The watershed between the Indus and the Granges
is altogether upon a lower level, and no connection with the Himalaya exists, similar
to that between the Swiss plateau and the Alps.
Lakes are comparatively rare in India, but large "Jhils" are occasionally to be
seen, especially in the river systems of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, For the most
1 See p. 481.
2 Hermann and Adolphe: "Phys. Geogr. d. Alpen." Vol. II., p. 577.