438 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS— ASIA. [May 25, 1857. 



16,800 to 18,000 feet, they had to endure a degree of cold at their 

 nightly bivouac of 11° 4' Cent, below freezing point. Fahian, at 

 the close of the 4th century, writing of Bushia south of Eltschi, 

 the capital of the province of Khotan, praises its high cultiva- 

 tion; its elevation being not more than 9200 feet. 'We were 

 at a day and a half s journey,' say the Schlagintweits, ' from the 

 northern part of the high chain of Kuen-luen. After leaving 

 Sumgal, we travelled for three days along the banks of the Kara- 

 gash, which gave us an opportunity of inspecting the famous quar- 

 ries of stone called Yaschem, which people come from a great 

 distance to visit. Between Kara-korum and the Valley of the Nubra 

 we measured several mountain peaks above 24,000 feet of absolute 

 elevation. The dip of the magnetic needle between July and 

 September is registered in j&gures.' The geological excursions 

 of Adolf and Eobert Schlagintweit in Eastern Thibet by Niti and 

 Gertope, to the glacier of Ibi Gamin, have also been very important. 

 The travellers reached it on the 19th of August, 1855, and trusting 

 to the corresponding observations in Agra, fixed the height they 

 attained on Ibi Gamin at 22,260 feet = 20,886 French feet. This 

 is not only higher than I reached at Chimborazo (18,096 French feet) 

 in 1802, and which Boussingault made (18,480 feet) in 1831, but 

 it is also higher than the summit of Chimborazo itself, which I 

 found by trigonometrical observation to be 20,100 French feet in 

 height. As the Schlagintweits were the first who reached the 

 top of Monte Eosa, they are accustomed to this kind of expedition. 

 A portion of their magnetic observations of the Himalaya has been 

 printed separately at Calcutta, and my respected friend General 

 Sabine will doubtless give them due credit for their assiduity. They 

 have also made some interesting and delicate observations on the 

 influence of great heights on the variation of the magnetic needle. 

 They will bring back to England some beautiful geological col- 

 lections, perhaps even in the course of this autumn ; for you are 

 aware that by the munificence of the East India Company and the 

 generous kindness of Colonel Sykes, who is a noble advocate of 

 every thing which appertains to the sciences, the brothers Schlagint- 

 weit have received every encouragement." 



When I reflect that these brothers have penetrated farther into 

 Thibet and Tartary from the plains of India on the south, than 

 any other European, that their physical, geological, and geogra- 

 phical observations are of the highest value, and that they have 

 even made i^hotographic sketches at heights of 20,000 feet above 



