Indus gorge).... As we ascend the peaks suggest organ pipes, so
vertical are the ridges, so jagged the ascending outlines. And each
pipe is painted a different colour ... pale slate green, purple,
yellow, grey, orange, and chocolate, each colour corresponding with
a layer of the slate, shale, limestone, or trap strata" (Neve's
_Picturesque Kashmir_, pp. 108 and 117).

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Burzil Pass.]

In all this desolation there are tiny oases where level soil and a
supply of river water permit of cultivation and of some tree growth.

~Water divide near Baralacha and Rotang Passes in Kulu.~--We have seen
that the Indus and its greatest tributary, the Sutlej, rise beyond the
Himalaya in the Tibetan plateau. The next great water divide is in the
neighbourhood of the Baralacha pass and the Rotang pass, 30 miles to the
south of it. The route from Simla to Leh runs at a general level of 7000
to 9000 feet along or near the Sutlej-Jamna watershed to Narkanda (8800
feet). Here it leaves the Hindustan-Tibet road and drops rapidly into
the Sutlej gorge, where the Luri bridge is only 2650 feet above sea
level. Rising steeply on the other side the Jalauri pass on the
watershed between the Sutlej and the Bias is crossed at an elevation of
10,800 feet. A more gradual descent brings the traveller to the Bias at
Larji, 3080 feet above sea level. The route then follows the course of
the Bias through the beautiful Kulu valley to the Rotang pass (13,326
feet), near which the river rises. The upper part of the valley is
flanked on the west by the short, but very lofty Bara Bangahal range,
dividing Kulu from Kangra and the source of the Bias from that of the
Ravi. Beyond the Rotang is Lahul, which is divided by a watershed from
Spiti and the torrents which drain into the Sutlej. On the western side
of this watershed are the sources of the Chandra and Bhaga, which unite
to form the river known in the plains as the Chenab.

~Mid Himalaya or Pangi Range.~--The Mid Himalayan or Pangi range, striking
west from the Rotang pass and the northern end of the Bara Bangahal
chain, passes through the heart of Chamba dividing the valley of the
Chenab (Pangi) from that of the Ravi. After entering Kashmir it crosses
the Chenab near the Kolahoi cone (17,900 feet) and the head waters of
the Jhelam. Thence it continues west over Haramukh (16,900 feet), which
casts its shadow southwards on the Wular lake, to the valley of the