Scientific Intelligence — Meteorology. 391 



vei'y erroneously stated, that every one who ascends the Himalaya 

 must share in Mr Button's doubts. I am myself one of those who 

 have visited the western portion of our mighty mountain chain most 

 frequently. I came through the Borendo pass into the Bu spa valley, 

 and the inferior Kunawur-land, returning through the lofty Rupin 

 pass into the Rewaian mountains of Gurwal. I penetrated to the 

 springs of the Jumna, as far as Jumnotri, and then turned to the tri- 

 butaries of the Ganges of Mundakni and Wischnu-Aluknunda, towards 

 Kadarnath, and the celebrated snowy summit of N undidevi. I several 

 times crossed over the Niti pass to the high lands of Thibet. I myself 

 founded the settlement of Bhote-Mehals. My continued residence 

 of six years among the mountains brought me into contact with many 

 native and European travellers, from whom I could obtain the most 

 accurate information concerning the country. From all my experi- 

 ence gathered in this way, I have arrived at the conclusion, and am 

 ready to maintain it, that in the Himalaya the limit of eternal snow 

 lies higher on the northern, or Thibetic, than on the southern, or In- 

 dian declivities. Mr Hutton alters the tei'ms of the proposition, when 

 he thinks he disproves Humboldt's general view of the phenomenon ; 

 he fights against a creation of his own fancy, when he seeks to prove, 

 that in some single mountains of the Himalaya the snow lies longer 

 on the northern than on the southern slopes ; a proposition which we 

 readily grant him." Vide also Note 5 (Notes, p. 45). If the 

 mean height of the Thibetic high lands be 10,800 feet, they may 

 then be compared with the delightful and fertile Peruvian plateau of 

 Caxamarca. But on this estimate still they would be 1200 feet 

 lower than the plateau of Bolivia, the lake of Titicaca, and the cause- 

 way of the town of Potosi. Ladak, from Vigne's measurement by 

 the boiling point of water, is 1563 toises high. This is probably 

 also the height of H'Lassa (Yul-jung), a town of monks, which 

 Chinese writers speak of as the " realm of pleasure," and which is 

 surrounded by vineyards. Must not these lie in deeply cut valleys ? 

 — Cosmos, No. 4, p. 473? By Alexander Von Humboldt. 



3. A Violent Hail Storm. — September 16th. — To the seventh posta 

 at the foot of the Sierra Tapalguen. The country was quite level, 

 with a coarse herbage and a soft peaty soil. The hovel here was 

 remarkably neat, the posts and rafters being made of about a dozen 

 dry thistle stalks bound together with thongs of hide ; and by the sup- 

 port of these Ionic-like columns, the roof and sides were thatched with 

 reeds. We were here told a fact, which I could not have credited, 

 if I liad not had partly ocular proof of it ; namely, that, during the 

 previous night, hail as large as small apples, and extremely hard, had 

 fallen with sucli violence as to kill the greater number of the wild 

 animals. One of the men had already found thirteen deer (Cervus 

 camfjestris) lying dead, and I saw their yre.s/i hides. Another of the 

 jjarty, a few minutes after my arrival, brougiit in seven more. Now, 

 I well know that one man without dogs could hardly have killed 



