Xi INTRODUCTION. 
to say, that if they err, it is rather on the side of deficiency than of excess. Before 
proceeding to give, as cursorily as possible, the results of these observations, it may be 
premised that the great mass of snowy peaks of the Indian Himalaya attain their greatest 
elevation between the sources of the Jumna and those of the Kalee or Gogra, and that 
the range declines in elevation to the N.E. towards Cashmere, and also, as far as we have 
information, towards the S.E. The passes leading into Cashmere are stated by M. 
Jacquemont to be not more than 8,000 or 9,000 feet, and the flanking peaks, judging 
from what they are in other parts of the Himalaya, cannot exceed this height by more 
than 2,000 or 3,000 feet. Dr. Gerard, in his enterprising attempt to reach Ludak by 
crossing the mountains which intervene between it and Belaspore, found the passes, 
less than he had been accustomed to climb, a little more to the S.E., as, for instance, the 
Rotung Pass elevated 13,000 feet, below which the Bias or Hyphasis originates. 
The survey of Captains Hodgson and Herbert, comprising the tract of the Himalaya, 
included between the Ganges and Sutlej rivers, is more especially interesting, as the 
majority of the objects of Natural History, illustrated in the present work, are from the 
same tract of country. The survey commenced at Saharunpore, from the house called 
Belville, of the late R. Grindall, Esq., Judge and Magistrate of that station, which was 
found to be élevated 1,013 feet,* and extended to the snowy peaks, which add so much 
sublimity to the view on the northward of Saharunpore. A base line of 21,754 feet, or 
about four miles, was measured in the Deyra Doon, elevated 2,350 feet, and the first 
stations of the small triangulation formed on the hills, which rise to 3,286 feet, within five 
miles of the base line, whence they were extended to such stations as Budraj, elevated 
7,510, and Surkunda 9,271 feet, 154 miles in a direct line from Deyra, both on the range 
which rises from and forms the boundary of this valley to the N.E. From these points the 
principal stations in the survey could be seen within a distance of from twenty to fifty 
miles, so that there was little probability of error, with excellent instruments in the 
hands of such practised observers in so clear and uniform an atmosphere. From the 
result of the survey, it appears that refraction is greater when one of the stations is in 
the plains, and the mean of all the observations stated to be —-1,; but when both sta- 
tions were.in the Hills refraction was found to be +;1;+ for heights varying from 7,000 
to 14,000 feet. Although the elevation of the snowy peaks far exceeds the latter height, 
Captains Hodgson and Herbert say, “‘ we might safely take a much smaller rate than +, 
yet, to be within the mark, we will content ourselves with that quantity.” 
The low range of hills frequently separated from the true Himalaya by diluvial 
vallies or doons, such as that of Deyra, seldom attains an elevation of more than 3,500 
feet, or 2,500 feet above the plains of Northern India. The principal passes across this 
range were 2,339 and 2,935 feet before they were cut down. The second zone of 
mountains, extending between these and the snowy range, vary in height from 5,000 to 
8,000 
* From my barometrical observations, Mr. James Prinsep calculated that my house in the vicinity of the 
’ Botanic Garden, was as near as possible 1,000 feet—V. Journ. Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1. p. 2. 
