Page:HMElliotHistVol1.djvu/80

the same number. These run far to the east and the south till they fall into the ocean. Those, however, which rise in the south do not discharge, themselves into the sea.
⁠The northern mountains have connection with Mount Meru, which lies south of them. Besides this there is another lofty ridge of mountains intervening between Turkistán and Tibet and India, which is not exceeded in height by any of the mountains of Hindústán. Its ascent is eighty parasangs. From its summit India looks black through the mists beneath, and the mountains and rugged declivities below look like hillocks. Tibet and China appear red. The descent from its summit to Tibet is one parasang. This mountain is so high that Firdausí probably meant the following verse to apply to it : — “It is so low and so high, so soft and so hard, that you may see its belly from the fish (on which the earth rests), its back from the moon.”
⁠Some other mountains are called Harmakút,^[1] in which the Ganges has its source. These are impassable from the side of the cold regions, and beyond them lies Máchin. To these mountains most of the rivers which lave the cities of India owe their origin. Besides these mountains there are others called Kalárchal.^[2] They resemble crystal domes, and are always covered with snow, like those of Damáwand. They can be seen from Tákas and Laháwar.^[3] Then there are the mountains of Bíllúr, in the direction of Turkistán, which are denominated Shamílán.^[4] In two days’ journey you arrive at Turkistán, where the Bhutáwariyas^[5] dwell. Their king is called Bhut Sháh, and their countries (bilad) are Gilgit, Asúra, Salsás,^[6] etc.,

1. [Hemakúta, the range immediately to the north of the Himálayas.]
2. [The mountains of Sirmor. See a passage in page 65. Reinaud reads the name “Kelardjek,” which agrees with the MS. D. Ibn Batúta calls them “Karáchil” (vol iii. 325), The latter part of the name is probably the Sanskrit áchal, mountain.]
3. [Tákashír (Taxila?) and Lúháwar (Lahore) in MS. C.]
4. [The Billúr-tágh, or “crystal mountains,” running north through Badakhshán. Shamílán is probably the Arabic Shamíl, “north,” with a plural termination—“Mountains of the North.”]
5. [MS. A. says “Maháromán.”]
6. The upper part of the Jhailam is called Bhat, and Kunáwar appears to be called “Budh mulk” (Lond. Geog. J., iv. 64). Gilgit retains its name to the present day; Asura is the same as the Astor, or Hasora, of our maps, and Salsas or Salsahí is, perhaps, Chelás on the Indus. M. Reinaud reads Schaltas (Vigne’s Kashmír, i. 548, 382). [MS. C. has “Shalsás.” See Mem. sur l’ Inde, 279.]