Uttarakhand 31

beer are available upto 10,000 ft.
^iii) ID the higher alpine gzone, ghural, snow leopard and

bharal are found.

Truely, the Himalayas are the repositary of minerals which
.are being extensively surveyed by the Geographical Survey of
India.

The moisture reservoir of India

To Himalaya alone and nothing else, India owes the piomi-
jient features of her climate. The massive barrier interrupts
the monsoon clouds advancing from the southern seas and
precipitates heavy rains on the Indian plains. At the same
time, it protects the Indian mainland from the icy blasts of
.cold wind which originate from the Arctic region that sweeps
^across Siberia, central Asia, Pamirs and parts of Tibet, but do
not reach India due to the massive Himalayan barrier.

Another important aspect of the Himalayan geology is that
.about twenty-two principal rivers which drain the Himalayan
region emanate from high glacial fields, the most significant
•being Ganga and Yamuna, both in antiquity and sanctity.
Atkinson has observed about this feature: "In the Himalaya, it
is observed that all the main ridges and valleys have a constant
tendency to follow the direction either parallel or at right
angles to the main line of water parting. This tendency, it is
true, is often disguised by the rapid succession of several
-sudden changes of direction which when represented on the
small scale of our maps gives an apparent obliquity to both
-ridges, and rivers which has no existence in the elementary
•portions of which they are composed."1 The draining area of
•the Kali is completed on the east by a great transverse ridge
•which runs down across western Nepal from the Tibetan water
parting. The Ganges system on the other hand is bounded by
another range near Rishikesh and Haridwar.

According to Dr. Chibbar, the Himalayan rivers can be
conveniently classified into the following categories :

(i) The pre-Himalayan rivers—these areSutlaj and Indus, The
catchment area is nearly 1,25,460 sq. miles.

1. S.KT Banerji, Himalaya Gol. I, 1952, P. 26.