244 Contributions to Physical Geography. 



2. On the Climate of the Himmalaya. 



" I am only lately arrived from a trip through the old tract, 

 viz. Kunawar, which I had hoped would reward me with some 

 consoling recompence for the sacrifice I made for its accom- 

 plishment; hut I failed entirely in my object of establishing 

 vaccination, owing to the folly and timidity of the Besaher 

 Rajah. However, I have obtained some particulars in my 

 journey, which, if not equivalent to the pecuniary losses I suf- 

 fered, are at least interesting. The fossils and shells which 

 occurred in my route are very strange objects. They are chief- 

 ly valuable from having myself seen them in situ- They com- 

 prise cockles, muscles, and pearl-fish, univalves, and long 

 cylindrical productions, which are most singular objects. I 

 found them lying upon the high land at 15,500 feet, in a bed 

 of granite and pulverized slate ; the adjacent rocks being at 

 the same time of shell limestone. All the shells are turned 

 into carbonate of lime, and many are crystallized like marble. 

 I came upon a village at a height of 14,700 feet; — are you not 

 surprized that human beings could exist at such an elevation ? 

 It was yet the middle of October, and the thermometer on two 

 mornings was 17°; what it is at this season of the year, I can- 

 not guess ; yet the sun's rays felt oppressive, and all the 

 streams and lakes which' were sheated with ice during the 

 night, were free and running by 2 o'clock. The finest crops 

 of barley are reared here, and to irrigation and solar heat are 

 the people indebted for a crop. The barometer gave for the 

 highest field 14,900 feet of elevation ; this verifies the obser- 

 vations, or rather inferences, on the limit of cultivation in the 

 upper course of the Sntluj ; and I think it quite possible, and 

 even probable, that crops may vegetate at Hi and 17,000 feet. 

 The yaks and shawl goats at this village seemed finer than at 

 any other spot within my observation. la fact, both men 

 and animals appear to live on and thrive luxuriantly, in spite 

 of those speculations which had calmly consigned those lofty 

 regions, and those myriads of living beings to perpetual ice 

 and oblivion. 



"On the North Eastern frontier of Kunawar, close to the 

 stone bridge, I attained a height of more than 20,000 feet, 

 without crossing snow, the barometer showing 14,320, ther- 

 mometer 27° at 1 p.m. Notwithstanding this elevation, I felt 

 oppressed by the sun's lays, though the air in the shade was 

 freezing. The view from this spot was grand and terrific be- 

 yond the power of language to describe. I had anticipated a 

 peep into China itself, but I only beheld its lofty frontier all 

 arid, and bare, and desolate. It was a line of naked peaks, 

 scarce a stripe of snow appearing ; yet every point had an 



