On the Climate of the Himmalaya. 133 



of Gersuppah are not unworthy of being recorded among the 

 ' wonders of the world.' " — Asiatic Journal, vol. xxviii. 



2. On the Climate of the Himmalaya. 



" I am only lately arri\edfrom a trip through the old tract, viz. 

 Kunawar, which I had hoped would reward me with some con- 

 soling recompence for the sacrifice I made for its accomplish- 

 ment ; but 1 failed entirely in my object of estabhshing vac- 

 cination, owing to the folly and timidity of the Besaher Rajah. 

 However, I have obtained some particulars in my journey, 

 which, if not equivalent to the pecuniary losses I suffered, are 

 at least interesting. The fossils and shells which occurred in 

 my route are very strange objects. They are chiefly valuable 

 from having myself seen them in situ. They comprise 

 cockles, muscles, and pearl-fish, univalves, and long cylindrical 

 productions, which are most singular objects. T found them 

 lying upon the high land at 15,500 feet, in a bed of granite 

 and pulverized slate ; the adjacent rocks being at the same 

 time of shell limestone. All the shells are turned into carbo- 

 nate of lime, * and many are crystallized like marble. I came 

 upon a village at a height of 1 4,700 feet ; — are you not sur- 

 prized that human beings could exist at such an elevation ? It 

 was yet the middle of October, and the thermometer on two 

 mornings was 17° : what it is at this season of the year, I can- 

 not guess ; yet the sun's rays felt oppresive, and all the streams 

 and lakes which were sheeted with ice during the night, were 

 free and running by 2 o'clock. The finest crops of barley are 

 reared here, and to irrigation and solar heat are the people in- 

 debted for a crop. The barometer gave for the highest field 

 14,900 feet of elevation ; this verifies the observations, or rather 

 inferences, on the limit of cultivation in the upper course of the 

 Sutluj ; and I think it quite possible, and even probable, that 

 crops may vegetate at 16 and 17,000 feet. The yaks and 

 shawl goats at this village seemed finer than at any other spot 

 within my observation. In fact, both men and animals appear 

 to live on and thrive luxuriantly, in spite of those speculations 



* " All sliells are composed of carbonate of lime principally. In the case 

 of the porcellanous division, it is combined with a little, and in that of the 

 mother-of-pearl shells, with about one-fourth of animal matter. — Ed." 



