Snow-Line in the Himalaya. 341 



when I crossed Manerung pass, 18,612 feet, — a pass on the 

 range that divides Piti from Kumiwar, — " thei'e was only about 

 a foot of snow, which was new, and had fallen a few days be- 

 fore. In October, on the ridge above Naico," — about five 

 miles north of the gi'eat bend in the Sutlej, — " we ascended 

 to 19,411 feet, and the snow, which was all new, and no more 

 than a few inches deep, was only met with in the last 400 or 

 500 feet ; this was on the face of the range exposed to the 

 west, but on the opposite side no snow was seen, at almost 

 20,000 feet." (P. 160.) During the whole of our expedition 

 into Hundes in September 1848, we only saw very small 

 patches of snow in two places, on both occasions in sheltered 

 ravines ; but, in the part of the country through which we 

 passed, perpetual snow is not to be looked for, the highest 

 mountains probably not exceeding 18,000 feet in height. In 

 the true plains of Thibet, snow would be just as difficult to 

 find in the summer months as in the plains of India. From 

 my own observations made in this journey, I infer that 

 the height of the limit of snow, on the southern face of 

 Kailas, is not less than 19,500 feet ; and there is nothing 

 now on record that I know of that indicates the latitude be- 

 yond which the snow-line again begins to descend. 



From a review of the whole of the facts that have been 

 brought forward, it may, I think, be considered as fully esta- 

 blished, that M. Humboldt, though under-estimating the 

 actual elevation of the snow-line, was certainly right in what 

 he advanced as to the relative height on the two opposite faces 

 of the chain. The doubts that were raised by Captain Hut- 

 ton on this point, in his paper entitled, " Correction of the 

 erroneous doctrine, that the snow lies longer and deeper on 

 the southern than on the nortliern aspect of the Himalaya," 

 were perhaps almost sufficiently answered by Mr Batton at 

 the time they were first brought forward ; but, as I have re- 

 opened the whole question, I will add a few words on this 

 subject also.* 



* Vide M'Clelland's Journal, Nos. xiv , xvi., xix., xxi. Captain Hutton'e first 

 letter begins thus : " I'revious to my trip tlu-ough Kunawar in 1838, I had 

 frequently hcuJ it contended, that the snow lay longer, docpcr, and farther 



