Page:Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet (1879).djvu/42

Rh of M. de la Condamine. The analogy between the two great mountain masses of the old and new world is indeed most remarkable. Both consist of three parallel chains. In both great rivers have their sources in the inner chain, and force their way through the other two. The cuesta of La Raya, separating the valley of the Vilcamayu from the basin of Titicaca, is the counterpart of the Mariam-la saddle dividing the basin of the Sutlej from the valley of the Brahmaputra. In both systems numerous rivers rise in the central cordillera, and after lateral courses between the two, eventually force a way through the outer chain. The Southern Himalaya bears an exact analogy to the outer Andes which rise from the valley of the Amazon. Both have a low range at their feet, enclosing valleys or dhuns ; both have deep gorges, separated by lofty ridges, which are spurs from a main chain of culminating snowy peaks ; and in both several rivers rise in an inner central range, and force their way through profound ravines between the culminating summits. The rivers Mapiri and Chuqui-apu pierce the cor- dillera, flowing through chasms in beds 18,000 feet below the snowy peak of Illimani which almost overhangs one of them. Yet no one maintains that the " Cordillera Eeal de los Andes " is not a chain of mountains ! The analogy between the land of the Tncas and the plateau of Tibet may be carried still farther. In both the staple produce is wool, yielded by llamas, alpacas, and vicuiias in Peru, and by sheep and shawl goats in Tibet. In both the beasts of burden are llamas or sheep needing a wide area of pasturage, and consequently numerous passes on their journeys, in order that a profitable trade may be carried on with the low country. Both abound in the precious metals. In both the people cultivate hardy cereals, and species of chenopodium, called quinua in Peru, and hattu in Tibet. The people, too, have Hiany beliefs and customs in common, down to that of heaping

astronomical observations, and mapped the country along the coast from Calcutta to Madras. Nor were marine surveys neglected ; and Ritchie, Huddart, and Blair were actively employed in preparing charts.