the eastern part of the
system which originates at E. longitude 79 deg. near the Pangong lake in the
Tibetan plateau a little beyond the boundary of Kashmir. Beyond the
Karakoram pass (18,550 ft.) is a lofty bleak upland with salt lakes
dotted over its surface. Through this inhospitable region and over the
Karakoram pass and the Sasser-la (17,500 ft.) the trade route from
Yarkand to Leh runs. The road is only open for three months in the year,
and the dangers and hardships are great. In 1898 Dr Bullock Workman and
his wife marched along it across the Shyok river, up the valley of the
Nubra, and over the Sasser-la to the Karakoram pass. The scenery is an
exaggeration of that described by Dr Neve as seen on the road from the
Zoji-la to Leh. There is a powerful picture of its weird repellent
grandeur in the Workmans' book entitled _In the Ice World of Himalaya_
(pp. 28-29, 30-32). The poet who had found ideas for a new Paradiso in
the Vale of Kashmir might here get suggestions for a new Inferno.

[Illustration: Fig. 9. Muztagh-Karakoram and Himalayan Ranges in
Kashmir.]

The Karakoram range culminates in the north-west near the Muztagh pass
in a group of majestic peaks including K 2 or Mount Godwin Austen
(28,265 feet), Gasherbrum, and Masherbrum, which tower over and feed the
vast Boltoro glacier. The first of these giants is the second largest
mountain in the world. The Duke of the Abruzzi ascended it to the height
of 24,600 feet, and so established a climbing record. The Muztagh chain
carries on the northern bastion to the valley of the Hunza river and
the western extremity of the Hindu Kush. It has several peaks exceeding
25,000 feet. The most famous is Rakiposhi which looks down on Hunza from
a height of 25,550 feet.

~The Hindu Kush.~--The Muztagh chain from the south-east, the Sarikol from
the north-east, and the Hindu Kush from the south-west, meet at a point
to the north of Hunza. The last runs westward and south-westward for
about 200 miles to the Dorah pass (14,800 feet), separating the valleys
which drain into the Indus from the head waters of the Oxus, and Hunza
and Gilgit in Kashmir and Chitral in British India from the Afghan
province of Wakhan. The highest point in the main axis, Sad Istragh
(24,171 feet), is in this section. But the finest mountain scenery in
the Hindu Kush is in the great spurs it thrusts out southwards to flank
the glens which feed the Gilgit and Chitral rivers. Tirach Mir towers
abo