. 



LINE OF PERPETUAL SNOW. 



distance from the poles, water appears between 

 the icy tracts; the land is not covered with snow 

 the whole year; minute vegetables cleave to the 

 ground ; and animals are found. At this point, the 

 snow- line rises from the level of the sea towards 

 the Equator, where it acquires its greatest perpen- 

 dicular height. 



The snow-line, according toJHumboldt, begins under 

 the Equator at a perpendicular height of 16,790 ft.; 

 nor does it vary much from that point. In the 19th 

 degree N.L., the limit is fixed at 15,026 ft.; in the 

 35th N.L. at 11,510 ft.; in the 43d N.L. at 8632ft.; 

 and reaches, in 62 N.L. (according to Wahlenberg), 

 5968 ft.; gradually decreasing to 75 N.L., where it 

 is at the level of the sea. 



Of the snow-line in the Southern Hemisphere but 

 little is known. Forster, however, found ice on the 

 sea in 60 S.L. ; and the mountains in South Georgia, 

 as well as in the Sandwich Isles, were covered with 

 snow to the level of the sea. The same reckons the 

 snow-line on Mount Egmont, in 39 s. L., to be 

 10,507 ft. We may therefore consider the region in 

 60, in the Southern Hemisphere, as the point at 

 which perpetual snow reaches the level of the sea. 



The snow-line in the Picture is drawn according 

 to these observations. Its height, however, undergoes 

 A 2 



