Snow-Line in the Himalaya. 339 



early than usual stop their own passes, while they are to the 

 north of the Himalaya. It may, therefore, be fairly con- 

 cluded, that the snow-line recedes considerably above the 

 Niti pass, as it should do if my estimate of its height be cor- 

 rect. 



Moorcroft. — The passage quoted in support of this height 

 is as follows : — " Now Mr Moorcroft had his tent covered 

 2 inches deep (with snow), when close to Manasarowar, and 

 on the surface of the ground it lay in greater quantities ; 

 and if his elevation was 17,000 feet,* we have clear evidence 

 that the climate of the table-land, notwithstanding the in- 

 creased heat from the reverberation of a bright sun, is equal- 

 ly as cold as in the regions of eternal snow in the Himalayan 

 chain, although the country of the former exhibits no perpe- 

 tual snow except at heights of 18,000 and 19,000 feet."— 

 {Tours in the Himalaya, t. i., p. 319.) The words are those 

 of Dr Gerard, who, on his own authority, thus gives 18,000 

 or 19,000 feet as the elevation of the snow-line in the part 

 of Thibet near the Sutlej ; and this, as far as it goes, corro- 

 borates the conclusion to which I have come. 



A. Gerard. — In the absence of the books to which M. Hum- 

 boldt refers, I conclude that the height here given is that to 

 which Captain Gerard supposed the snow receded on the 

 ridge above Nako. But this is to the north of the Sutlej, 

 and therefore is not in the region to which I have confined 

 myself In the " Account of Kunawar," however, the fol- 

 lowing remark that is applicable, is to be found : — " In 

 ascending the Keoobrung pass, 18,313 feet high, in July, no 

 snow was found on the i*oad." — (P. 159.) This pass is si- 

 tuated on the water-shed of the Himalaya, about 20 miles 

 east of the great bend in the Sutlej, and about 8 miles to the 

 south of that river ; it is on the northern limit of the belt of 

 perpetual snow, the gi'ound between it and the Sutlej not being 

 of sufficient height to be permanently covered with snow. 



Jacquemont. — The Keoobrung pass of Captain Gerard, un- 

 der a name slightly changed, is the same as that from which 



* The elevation of Manasarowar, as M. Humboldt correctly conjectured, is 

 about l.'5,200 feet only. 



