38 Meyen on the Distribution of Vegetation on the 



height of 15,225 feet, there liave been found on the Himalayah, 

 species of genista and astragalus, together with the rheum 

 emodi, one of the true rhubarbs, and species of pcdicidaris and 

 primula ; but luxurious compared with this, is the vegetation on 

 the pass Los Altos de Toledo in the Peruvian chain, where syn- 

 genesian resinous shrubs vegetate at an elevation of 15,500 

 feet. At such heights, and beyond them, there occur on 

 the Himalayah, only mosses and grasses, and no trace of 

 shrubs. At a height of 15,000 feet, there are marshes with 

 bushes . the Juniperus excelsa and /. recxirta are found only as 

 high as 14,500 feet, while barley is reaped at a height of 14,900 

 feet. At 14,700 feet, Gerard found a village in north-eastern 

 Kunawar, where the temperature in the middle of October was 

 17° F. in the morning, and the stream was not free of the ice that 

 had been formed during the night till 2 o"'clock p.m. The birch 

 and rhododendron lepidotum extend beyond 14,000 feet ; and to 

 the east of Dabling, in north-eastern Kunawar, there is cultivation 

 at 13,G00 feet. At that spot there are fields of barley, buck- 

 Avheat, and turnips. In most other places, the cultivation does not 

 ascend beyond a height of 11,500 or 12,000 feet. The highest 

 limit of the pine is 12,300 feet : the pine woods do not extend 

 beyond 11,000 to 11,800 feet; but at a much higher elevation 

 poplars of 1 2 feet in circumference have been observed.* 



We have already seen, that on the plateau of Chuquito, onl}- 

 the barley and oats ripened at a height of 12,700 to 12,800 feet, 

 and this may be easily explained. On the banks of the lake of 

 Titlcaca there prevails constant spring weather, that is, a tem- 

 perature which, during the whole year, deviates but little from 

 that which belongs to our spring ; and while the average wintrt" 

 temperature is higher, the average summer temperature is lower. 

 And it is this summer temperature, when it continues to the 

 time of ripening, which alone favours the cultivation of the cere- 

 alia. But, as the summer heat is so very low in these districts, 

 rye and wheat do not ripen. It at first appears remarkable that 

 excellent potatoes are cultivated close to the fields of rye and 

 barley, while with us it is quite common to find the young po- 

 tato plants destroyed by a degree of cold which would not at 

 all injure fields of grain. This, however, just affords additional 



* Asiatic Journal, May, 1825. P. 629. 



