Mount Kailash

“ Mount Godwin-Austen (28,250 ft. high) , only 750 ft. lower than Everest, affords an excellent example in Asiatic geography of a dominating, peak-crowned water-parting or divide. From Kailas on the far west to the extreme north-eastern sources of the Brahmaputra, the great northern water-parting of the Indo-Tibetan highlands has only been occasionally touched. Littledale, du Rhins and Bonvalot may have stood on it as they looked southwards towards Lhasa, but for some 500 or 600 m. east of Kailas it appears to be lost in the mazes of the minor ranges and ridges of the Tibetan plateau. ”

“ At the base of the escarpment are the red sandstone cliffs, sometimes resting (as at Es Safieh) on a foundation of older crystalline rocks, and extending up the flanks of the escarpment to an elevation of 2,000 feet above the Salt Sea. To these succeed soft sandstones of variegated colours, probably belonging to the "Nubian Sandstone" formation surmounted by the Cretaceous limestone of the table-land, which stretches far away eastward into the Syrian Desert, the haunt of nomadic tribes. ”

“ The ascent to the summit generally occupies between fifteen and twenty minutes.
The view from the summit of the Great Pyramid is described by my brother as being of a most extraordinary nature. On the eastern side the eye ranges over an extensive verdant plain, watered by numerous canals, and interspersed with villages erected upon mounds of rubbish, and surrounded by palm-trees. In the distance is the Nile; beyond which are seen the lofty minarets and citadel of Cairo, backed by the low yellow range of Mount Mukattam. ”

“ The cliffs are formed of red porphyry, which here rises up sharply against the limestone. We have in fact crossed the main fault of the Wâdy el Arabah. The porphyry is surmounted by other cliffs of the red Desert Sandstone. Through this mass of rock a small stream has cut its channel, and the only way up the valley is by this narrow chasm, averaging about 10 feet across, and bounded by walls gradually increasing in height. ”

“ On entering Es Sûk the cliffs close in on both sides, forming every combination of turn and bend, and running up to about 800 feet with sheer precipitous sides; every turn increases the height and grandeur of the gorge, while the small stream keeps the place cool and green with many plants and shrubs. Careful traversing had to be adopted through the gorge, which extends four miles. Camp was pitched beyond the gorge, where another spring occurs called 'Ain el Akari, watering a small patch of reeds and palms. ”

“ Our traverses from the shores of the Salt Sea to Gaza, and again from Jaffa to Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, together with our excursions to Bethlehem and Solomon's Pools, had enabled us to obtain an approximately complete knowledge of the general features of the country and of its geological structure, and we looked forward to a further reconnaissance northwards to the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and thence across to Mount Carmel and onwards to Beyrût, to enable us to complete our geological survey of the whole country;—but this was not to be, as my narrative will show. ”

“ Mount Harris is of basaltic formation, but I could not observe any columnar regularity in it, although large blocks are exposed above the ground. The rock is extremely hard and sonorous. ”

“ Of all the fire-mountains which, like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest in form, has the most interesting forest cover, and, with perhaps the exception of Shasta, is the highest and most flowery. ”

“ The whole Mount still kept the grand style; it expressed the unity of Church and State, God and Man, Peace and War, Life and Death, Good and Bad; it solved the whole problem of the universe. ”

“ Their eyes met with a singular directness of gaze. Between them a spark passed which was not afterwards to be extinguished, though neither of them knew the moment of its kindling, and Mount Dunstan slightly frowned. ”

“ Kailas is protected on the north by immense masses of granite, but the mountain itself is in all probability of conglomerate, as shown by the nearly horizontal bedding plainly perceptible in the projecting ledges, sharply marked snow-lines, and belts of ice. The summit rises above this sea of wild mountains like a mighty crystal of hexagonal form.
A party of poor women and children climbed wearily up to the pass. An elderly man, who was now making his ninth circuit, made no objection to join our party ”

“ I rejoiced in my progress, mourned my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct. I had well-nigh forgotten where I was and our object in coming; but at last I dismissed my anxieties, which were better suited to other surroundings, and resolved to look about me and see what we had come to see. The sinking sun and the lengthening shadows of the mountain were already warning us that the time was near at hand when we must go. As if suddenly wakened from sleep, I turned about and gazed toward the west. ”

“ To-day I made the ascent of the highest mountain in this region, which is not improperly called Ventosum. My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer. I have had the expedition in mind for many years; for, as you know, I have lived in this region from infancy, having been cast here by that fate which determines the affairs of men. Consequently the mountain, which is visible from a great distance, was ever before my eyes, and I conceived the plan of some time doing what I have at last accomplished to-day. ”

“ Through the large valley, which enters the main valley on the right side, and is called Kando-sanglam, we now look eastwards upon the highest pinnacle of the summit of Kailas, which has a sharp edge towards the north-east, and still looks like a crystal. At two manis erected side by side we pass the border of the granite and the conglomerate, which now appears again. The further we proceed the more numerous are the boulders of this kind of rock, while those of granite at length occur no more. We march south-west and bivouac on the roof of the monastery Tsumtul-pu. ”

“ Kailas, therefore, lies a good day’s journey south of the watershed of the two rivers, and belongs entirely to the basin of the Sutlej.
From the lake we follow the little affluent of the Indus northwards. The ground is marshy and rough. Here and there are seen three hearthstones. A dead horse lies among the luxuriant grass. It is singular that no nomads are encamped here. At length we see at a far distance quite down in the valley men going downstream with large flocks of sheep. Tundup Sonam and Ishe are sent after them, and by degrees the rest of us come up with the party. ”

“ Here are stationed some Kashmir troops, and here it is that the roads to Chilas and Gilgit separate.
The Chilas road follows down the Indus on the left bank, through a country which probably has no equal in the world. How this astounding valley was formed it is difficult to say; but the valley is there, and a wilder, grander, more desolate, and more colossal rift cannot occur elsewhere on the earth's surface. [Pg 128]
'Is this the scene Where the old Earthquake-dæmon taught her young Ruin?' From the summit of Nanga Parbat to the waters of the Indus below is in depth nearly 24,000 feet. ”

“ Occasionally, when the wind eddied upward, a great sullen growl came up, and the Makusis standing beside me at the brink of the cliff stepped back with a grunt of superstitious alarm.
The wonder of it all makes coming away very hard, for one becomes fascinated by the ever-changing glory and can never look enough. When, in October, 1917, my husband and I were three weeks in camp on this plateau, it did not seem one day too long; and we studied Kaietuk in all its moods—in misty dawn, magnificent day, and ghostly moonlight. ”

“ KAILAS, a mountain in Tibet. It is the highest peak of the range of mountains lying to the north of Lake Manasorawar, with an altitude of over 22,000 ft. It is famous in Sanskrit literature as Siva’s paradise, and is a favourite place of pilgrimage with Hindus, who regard it as the most sacred spot on earth. A track encircles the base of the mountain, and it takes the pilgrim three weeks to complete the round, prostrating himself all the way.
KAIN, the name of a sub-province and of a town of Khorasan, Persia. The sub-province extends about 300 m. ”

“ The finest view in the Khasia mountains, and perhaps a more extensive one than has ever before been described, is that from Chillong hill, the culminant point of the range, about six miles north-east from Moflong bungalow. This hill, 6,660 feet above the sea, rises from an undulating grassy country, covered with scattered trees and occasional clumps of wood; the whole scenery about being park-like, and as little like that of India at so low an elevation as it is possible to be. ”

“ Near Taklakot, between two parallel ridges of Emodus covered with everlasting snow, Hariballabh places two lakes, Manasa Sarawar Vulgo Manasarawar, and Ravanhrad, which receives the water flowing from the former. On their west side is a vast peak named Kailasa, which the Hindus suppose to be the residence of the Gods. The valley, east and west from the lakes, and extending to a great width between the two ridges of the snowy mountains, is deeply covered with snow in winter, and then the shepherds retire lower down ”

“ From this place the Khasia mountains are seen as a long table-topped range running east and west, about 4000 to 5000 feet high, with steep faces towards the Jheels, out of which they appear to rise abruptly. Though twelve miles distant, large waterfalls are very clearly seen precipitating themselves over the cliffs into a bright green mass of foliage, that seems to creep half way up their flanks. The nearly horizontal arrangement of the strata is as conspicuous here, as in the sandstone of the Kymore hills in the Soane valley, which these mountains a good deal resemble ”

“ Of the temples some are cut down through the rock, and left open above like isolated buildings, others are excavated under the hill in the manner of caves properly so called. The interior walls are often richly carved with mythological designs. The most magnificent of the whole is the Hindu temple called Kailasa or Cailasa, the central portion of which forms an isolated excavated mass or immense block 500 feet in circumference and 100 feet high. ”

“ The cliffs a little above Koyunjik are composed of a “hard sandstone,” and a part of the moat of the town is carried through “compact silicious conglomerate.” The town is, in fact, situated on “a spur of rock” thrown off from the Jebel Dlakiub, which, terminates at the edge of the ravine whereby Nineveh was protected on the south. Calah, too, was built on a number of “rocky undulations,” and its western wall skirts the edge of “conglomerate” cliffs, which have been scarped by the hand of man. A very tolerable stone was thus procurable on the actual sites of these ancient cities ”

“ Between the Márgalla and Kálachitta hills is the Márgalla pass on the main road from Ráwalpindí to the passage of the Indus at Attock, and therefore a position of considerable strategical importance. The Kálachitta (black and white) chain is so called because the north side is formed of nummulitic limestone and the south mainly of a dark purple sandstone. The best tree-growth is therefore on the north side.
Pesháwar, Kohát, and Bannu.—Across the Indus the Pesháwar and Bannu districts are basins ringed with hills and drained respectively by the Kábul and Kurram rivers with their affluents. ”

“ To identify these strata, it is necessary to call them by name. The names that geologists have assigned them have no scientific significance other than identity; they are Indian and local.
Beginning at the canyon rim we have a stalwart cliff of gray limestone known as the Kaibab Limestone, or, conversationally, the Kaibab; it is about seven hundred feet thick. Of this product of a million years of microscopic life and death on sea-bottoms is formed the splendid south-rim cliffs from which we view the chasm. Across the canyon it is always recognizable as the rim. ”

“ It is actually a vast plateau, some fifty miles long and thirty-five miles wide, and containing 500 square miles of yellow pine, fir and spruce diversified by charming aspen copses, the largest and most beautiful virgin forest in the United States. In elevation it rises from 7,500 to 9,300 feet above sea level.
Kaibab Forest occupies the top of a lofty plateau isolated on the south and east by the Grand Canyon, on the north and west by the mysterious plains above which it rises 5,000 feet. On all sides are unexplored plateaus and canyons where untouched cliff dwellings stand. ”

“ Taking a seat at the head of the trail, let us now give our undivided attention to the scene spread out before us. The predominating feature is the great uplift of the opposite wall, and the aggressiveness of its salient promontory. Here is a break in the continuity of the wall of the Kaibab Plateau. This break affords an immediate view of the highest portions of the Canyon's walls. To the right of the break is the Kaibab Plateau, its highest portion being eight thousand three hundred feet above sea level. To the left is Powell Plateau, seven thousand six hundred and fifty feet elevation. ”

“ Seated on the rim in some favorable spot, one sees the different formations spread out as clearly as if diagrammed in a text-book on geology. The Kaibab plateau, just to the north shows six or seven formations belonging to the four great rock systems. At the top is the bluish limestone which weathers into fantastic buttresses and pinnacles, many of them so dizzily perched as to give a constant challenge to the winds or to man to topple them from their precarious position and hurl them a thousand feet below. ”