Snow -Line in the Himalaya. 97 



winds which flow during December, January, and February, and 

 partly to the sun's rays. In the beginning of May, in coming from 

 Nako to Chungo in Ilungrung, I found no snow on the southern^ 

 eastern^ or western slopes ; but on some northern ones, which were 

 steep, there was snow three and four feet thick ; elevation about 

 11,500 feet. At Shalkur, up to the middle of June, the snow lay 

 on the northern sides of the gullies or ravines of the hills ; and when 

 out shooting, I had much difficulty in crossing them ; elevation 

 11,000 to 11,500 feet. I was informed also that the northern 

 slopes of the Hungrung ghat, between Soongnum and Hungo, had 

 some snow until the middle of June. On the southern face it had 

 melted six weeks before, except in hollow places ;" and, finally, 

 ** August 7th, there is no snow on western slopes of hills 17,000 

 feet high, but there are a few patches on the northern slopes. ^^ 



Thus we have observations made in Tartar regions north of the 

 Bissehir range, between 31° 30' and 32° north latitude, all of which 

 tend directly to prove that, while from December to August, snow 

 was always to be found on the northern aspect of every hill or range, 

 there was either little or none at all on their southern exposure. 



What, then, has Lieut. Strachey proved by his observations in 

 Kumaon, and by his strictures upon nearly every one who has written 

 on the subject of the snow-line in the Himalaya ? We appear to be 

 indebted to him simply for proving what was never disputed, namely, 

 that the facts observed by Webb and others in Kumaon are true, as 

 far as regards that district ; but with respect to the only point in dis- 

 pute, namely, as to whether those facts are only locally and not gene- 

 rally true, he has left the question exactly where he found it. 



But conceding even that the Bissehir or southern snowy range 

 was the locality on which my facts were observed, there still 

 appears strong reason for asserting that the phenomena there 

 visible are directly opposed to the conclusions which my oppo- 

 nent would draw from them ; for he declares that a greater 

 quantity of snow must fall on the outer southern face of the 

 range, owing to the interception of heated and moisture- bearing 

 winds from the south, and thus he would account for the preva- 

 lence of the snow on that aspect. Supposing then, for the sake 

 of argument, that thus far his views are just, when applied to the 

 southern range of Kumaon, he has still chosen to overlook the 

 fact, that in Loyd and Gerard's " Tours in the Himalaya," — a work, 

 too, which he has himself quoted, — it is stated that "the line (of 

 perpetual snow) in the latitude 30° 30' in Asia, is fixable at 15,000 

 feet on the southern or Indian aspect of the Himalaya mountains, 

 and on the northern (not the Tartaric) may be concluded at 14,500 

 feet." This appears to me to give the northern snow-line of the outer 

 range an elevation less by 500 feet than the southern one ; while 

 Captain Cunningham, in a recent paper, even estimates the approxi- 



VOL. L. NO. XCIX. — JANUARY 1851. G 



