Snow- Line in the Himalaya. 325 



" de rectifier de nouveau et par des mesures bien precises 

 dont toute le detail hypsometrique soit public, ce qui reste de 

 douteux sur la hauteur comparative dea deux pentes de 

 I'Himalaya, sur I'influence de reverberation du plateau Tube- 

 tain, et sur celle que Ton suppose au courant ascendant de 

 Tair chaud des plaines de I'lnde. C'est un travail a recom- 

 mencer." {Asie Centrale, t. iii., p. 325.) Men of science will 

 still long have to regret that this illustrious traveller was 

 prevented from visiting the East ; Englishmen alone need 

 remember that he was prevented by them. 



The result of M. Humboldt's investigations on the position 

 of the snow-line in this part of the Himalaya is thus given 

 by himself : — " The limit of perpetual snow on the southern 

 declivity of the Himalaya chain is 2030 toises (13,000* feet, 

 English) above the level of the sea; on the northern declivity, 

 or rather on the peaks which rise above the Tartarian pla- 

 teau, this limit is 2600 toises (16,600 feet) from 30^° to 82° of 

 latitude ; while, under the equator, in the Andes of Quito, it 

 is 2470 toises (15,800 feet). I have deduced this result from 

 the collection and combination of many data furnished by 

 Webb, Gerard, Herbert, and Moorcroft. The greater eleva- 

 tion to which the snow-line recedes on the Thibetian decli- 

 vity, is the result conjointly of the radiation of heat from the 

 neighbouring elevated plains, the serenity of the sky, and 

 the infrequent formation of snow in very cold and dry air." 

 — {Cosmos, Trans., t. i., p. 363, note 5.) 



The portion of the Himalaya to which allusion has most 

 generally been made, in treating of the snow-line, is that 

 which lies between the north-western frontier of Nipal and 

 the river Sutlej, and it is solely to this part of the chain that 

 my remarks are intended to apply. It extends from about 

 the 77th to the 81st degree of east longitude, and its entire 

 breadth, from tlie plains of India on the south to the plains of 

 Thibet on the north, is about 120 miles. The mountains on 



* The reduction of toises into Englisli fcot is everywhere given to the 

 nearest hundred only. 



