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228   THE NAME OF THE MOUNTAINS NORTH OF THE TSANGPO.

The name Transhimalaya, on the other hand, could not possibly give rise to any misunderstanding. The name caused a good deal of objection in England and India. What was Trans-Himalaya from the Indian side would be Cis-Himalaya from the Russian side! But in 1856 Hodgson had used the expression Transhimalayan regions and nobody had proposed to call them Cis-himalayan out of consideration for the Russians!

Major LENOX-CONYNGHAM made the following objection: I »The name, as Dr. Sven Hedin has mentioned, has been used before. It was applied in 1847 by Sir Alexander Cunningham, to a range which lies to the south of Ladak. It is no longer in use, but to resuscitate an old name and apply it to a new locality is to sow a seed of future confusion.»

Of his Trans-Himalayan Range Cunningham says: 2 »It branches off from the Gangri mountain to the south of Garo, and extends in one unbroken chain through the districts of Chuinurti, Rukchu, and Zanskar, to the junction of the Zanskar river . . . From this it extends to the junction of the Dras river with the Indus . . . Its general direction is from south-east to north-west, and its extreme length is upwards of 35o miles. It forms the natural boundary between Ladak, Balti, and Rongdo on the north, and Rukchu, Zanskar, Purik, Dras, and Astor, on the south.»

If Cunningham's Trans-Himalayan range had ever been accepted, my proposal would, perhaps, have caused no end of trouble. If it had still been used, or even known by the majority of geographers, I should never have proposed it. Major Lenox-Conyngham gives, at the same place, the following extract of a letter from Colonel Burrard: »I trust that Dr. Sven Hedin will not think that the objections raised to the name Trans-Himalaya are frivolous or obstructive. I can assure him that they are considered weighty by men who have devoted their lives to the study of geography and geology, and who wish to avoid all risks of future inconvenience and controversy.»

Nor did I wish to cause any risk of future inconvenience and controversy. The geology is no hindrance for the name, at least not in those parts where I have made my researches. On the contrary, as will be shown in the geological part (Vol. V) of this work, written be Professor ANDERS HENNIG. More important is, that the TransHimalayan Range of Cunningham does not exist in reality. His Trans-Himalaya starts from Kailas, is situated between Indus and Satlej and cut through by the Dras river. There is no such range as may be clearly seen from Burrard's frontispiece map (Pl. XXV). Cunningham's Trans-Himalaya is a mixtum comftositum of Burrard's Kailas range, Ladak range and Zanskar range. This fact alone is sufficient for abolishing for ever all talk of »a seed of future confusion».

The parts of the mountainous world of Asia, where Cunningham has his Trans-Himalaya belong to the Himalayan system. This fact is probably the cause why the name was not accepted, for a Trans-Himalaya should, of course, be situated beyond the great Himalaya.

I Geographical Journal, April 1909, Vol. XXXIII, p. 428. Ladak etc., London 1854, p. 52