444 LOFTY HIMALAYAN PASSES. 



which are sometimes so violent as to sweep away 

 everything in their course. From Ali Musjid, the 

 watershed is to the westward, towards Afghanistan, and 

 the highest point of the Khyber pass is given as 3372 

 feet over sea-level, and 2300 feet above the level of 

 the plain at Peshawar. * 



Most of the Himalayan passes are however very 

 much higher than the Khyber, and the elevation of 

 their summits may be said to range from 12,000 to 

 14,000 feet, up to as high as 20,000 feet, but upon the 

 southern range of mountains in Thibet, though the 

 altitudes are often enormous, comparatively little snow 

 is found up to 16,000 or 17,000 feet in summer, the 

 condensation of aqueous vapours from the atmosphere 

 having for the greater part taken place upon the 

 southern eminences, as we have already stated. 



We may instance the case of the country in the 

 neighbourhood of the Zoji La pass, in Ladak, whose 

 summit is given as 13,400 feet above sea-level, where 

 at an elevation of 16,000 feet on the adjoining mountain 

 slopes there is " often no snow in summer." f Professor 

 Huxley in fact draws the snow-line on the north side 

 of the Himalayas, at 16,600 feet. 



The Encyclopedia Britannica, a recognised authority 

 in geographical science, goes further, and says that 

 on the Indian watershed " the snow-line is not lower 

 than 18,500 feet and on the summit of the table land 

 (of Thibet) it reaches about 20,000 feet." ** For our- 



* Imperial Gazetteer, 1868, Vol. ii, p. 75. (Article "Khyber Pass)." 



j Where Three Empires Meet, Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc., by 

 E. F. Knight, 1893, pp. 105 6. 



Physiography, by Professor T. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 1887, p. 64. 



** Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xi, p. 831 (Article "The 

 Himalayas "). 



