246 On the Limits of Perpetual Snow in the Himalayas. 
which Lieutenant Strachey somewhat slightingly alludes.* 
Both observers are right, because the one simply means that 
snow is even being simultaneously destroyed and renewed, 
and the other, that hills of a certain elevation always exhi- 
bit a covering of snow. 
The Tibet of the Himalayas not a plain or table-land—Lieu- 
tenant Strachey, and indeed most people, talk of the “ plains” 
or “ table-land,” of Tibet; but I doubt whether, between 
Imaus and Emodus, or anywhere in the valleys or basins of 
the Indus, and Brahmaputra to the north of the Himalayas, 
there are any plains. The range separating the upper courses 
of the Indus and Sutlej is indeed inferior in height to that 
which gives rise to the Ganges and Jumna, but it is still a 
lofty range. To the northward of the Indus, or on a line run- 
ning from Garo towards Yarkund, I dare say that undulating 
ground or moderate slopes, rather than deep ravines with 
steep sides, may perhaps be found. 
These downs or steppes, or at least tracts, afford pasturage 
to the best description of shawl-wool goats ; and Lieutenant 
Strachey is right in his opinion that, elevated although they 
be, they are as free from snow during summer as the plains 
of India. What he supposes of the Kailas or Gagri of the 
Manasarawar Lake, viz., that the height of its (northern) 
snow-line may be 19,500 feet, would also be fully verified on 
any mountains which may break the sameness of these 
steppes, and not be so far to the north as to be much affected 
by the latitude——(Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 
New Series, No. xxxi., July 1849, p. 694.) 
Observations upon M. Boutigny’s recent Experiment. By 
Professor PLUCKER of Bonn. t 
It may perhaps be a matter of interest to you to obtain a 
confirmation of Boutigny’s recent experiment. With his 
usual kindness, he exhibited to me, last Easter, his former ex- 
periments ; and, whilst admiring his rare perseverance in 
* Journ. As. Soc. of Bengal, April 1849, p. 302, note. 
t From Poggendorff’s Annalen, December 7, 1849, 
