Mid Himálaya or Pangí Range.—The Mid Himálayan or Pangí range, striking west from the Rotang pass and the northern end of the Bara Bangáhal chain, passes through the heart of Chamba dividing the valley of the Chenáb (Pangí) from that of the Ráví. After entering Kashmír it crosses the Chenáb 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 Kishnganga, and probably across it to the mountains which flank the magnificent Kágan glen in Hazâra.
Fig. 5. Rotang Pass.
Fig. 6. Mt Haramukh.
Outer Himálaya or Dhauladhár-Pir Panjál Range.—The Outer Himálaya also starts from a point near the Rotang pass, but some way to the south of the offset of the Mid Himalayan chain. Its main axis runs parallel to the latter, and under the name of the Dhauladhár (white ridge) forms the boundary of the Chamba State and Kángra, behind whose headquarters, at Dharmsála it stands up like a huge wall. It has a mean elevation of 15,000 feet, but rises as high as 16,000. It passes from Chamba into Bhadarwáh in Kashmír, and crossing the Chenáb is carried on as the Pír Panjál range through the south of that State. With an elevation of only 14,000 or 15,000 feet it is a dwarf as compared with the giants of the Inner Himalayan and Muztagh-Karakoram chains. But it hides them from the dwellers in the Panjáb, and its snowy crest is a very striking picture as seen in the cold weather from the plains of Ráwalpindí, Jhelam, and Gujrát. The Outer Himálaya is continued beyond the gorges of the Jhelam and Kishnganga rivers in Kajnág and the hills of the Hazára district. Near the eastern extremity of the Dhauladhár section of the Outer Himálaya it sends out southwards between Kulu and Mandí a lower offshoot. This is crossed by the Babbu (9480 feet) and Dulchí passes, connecting Kulu with Kángra through Mandí. Geologically the Kulu-Mandí range appears to be continued to the east of the Biás and across the Sutlej over Hattu and the Chor to the hills near Masúrí (Mussoorie), a well-known hill station in the United Provinces. Another offshoot at the western end of the Dhauladhár passes through the beautiful hill station of Dalhousie, and sinks into the low hills to the east of the Ráví, where it leaves Chamba and enters the British district of Gurdáspur.
River Valleys and Passes in the Himálaya.—While these principal chains can be traced from south-east to north-west over hundreds of miles it must be remembered that the Himálaya is a mountain mass from 150 to 200 miles broad, that the main axes are linked together by subsidiary cross chains dividing the head waters of great rivers, and flanked by long and lofty ridges running down at various angles to the gorges of these streams and their tributaries. The typical Himalayan river runs in a gorge with mountains dipping down pretty steeply to its sides. The lower slopes are cultivated, but the land is usually stony and uneven, and as a whole the crops are not of a high class. The open valleys of the Jhelam in Kashmír and of the Biás in Kulu are exceptions. Passes in the Himálaya are not defiles between high cliffs, but cross the crest of a ridge at a point where the chain is locally depressed, and snow melts soonest. In the Outer and Mid Himálaya the line of perpetual snow is at about 16,000 feet, but for six months of the year the snow-line comes down 5000 feet lower. In the Inner Himálaya and the Muztagh-Karakoram, to which the monsoon does not penetrate, the air is so dry that less snow falls and the line is a good deal higher.