Himalayas

The Himalayas are a far-northern mountain landmark in the poem’s expansive geography. Called Himaván and the Hills of Snow, they appear both as a destination in an ordered search itinerary and as a striking feature of a journey through the northern country.

Names and Setting

The poem refers to the range as the Hills of Snow when directing searchers northward, and as Himaván in a description of travel through the northern country. In that account, Himaván is named alongside Mount Meru and the northern sea, placing the range within a sequence of remote northern landmarks.

Place in the Search Route

The Himalayas mark the reach of an extensive search: the searchers are told to cross lands in order and continue northward to the Hills of Snow. The directive makes the mountains a practical point of orientation in a route that ranges across rivers, woods, hills, and successive lands.

Narrative Significance

The range is presented not through a sustained account of its inhabitants or physical boundaries, but through movement toward and across a vast landscape. Its appearance beside Mount Meru and the northern sea gives the itinerary a sense of distance and scale, while its role as a named destination turns that remote geography into part of the search’s concrete task.