XXXU BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



elevation varying from 15,000 to 26,000 feet. Perhaps the mean 

 height may be from 18,500 to 19,000. The snowy mountains are not, 

 as in the Andes, interrupted peaks here and there of porphyries and 

 other traps, but a continuous line of ridges, and the highest of them are 

 certainly primary schists, such as gneiss, &c. You may remember, 

 perhaps, Jameson's doubts about this point. But I am convinced that 

 they are only huge masses of the same formation as the lower ridges, 

 upheaved to a greater elevation. The scenery is magnificent ; like 

 Byron's ocean, " Endless, boundless, and sublime " ; huge, vast, and 

 awe-striking. To give you an idea of some of the views : I got up on 

 the top of a high mountain called Choor, half way between the snowy 

 range and the plains, with an elevation of about 13,000 feet. In front, 

 looking to the north, the eye took in a continuous line of snowy ridges, 

 varying from 15,000 to 24,000 feet, or no less than 90° on a quadrant 

 of the horizon. This is no exaggeration. Between me and them 

 stretched an ocean of mountain waves, I overtopping all. In the rear, 

 or south, stretched another sea of mountain-ridges, with the plains of 

 India in the distance, level as a lake, traversed here and there by a 

 streak of silver marking the tiny show made by the mighty rivers 

 Jumna and Ganges, and then turning to right and left was a stretch of 

 ridge upon ridge and of mountain upon mountain, bounded only by the 

 limits of vision. I stood upon pinnacled masses of granite, which made 

 a noble and harmonious oiFset to the whole. Follow me on another 

 occasion to the source of the river Jumna, at the foot of the mountain 

 Jumnootree, 21,000 feet high, I walking in the bed of the river, in a 

 narrow winding channel, cutting off the view in every direction, with a 

 lofty wall of rock on either hand. Imagine now a sudden bend of the 

 channel opening a vista in front, and the mountain bm-sting on the 

 view rising nearly two miles in height right over me, its black front 

 patched over and its summit crested with snow, looking like an enormous 

 wave curling with foam and rolling on to overwhelm us. So vivid was 

 this impression, that astounded awe was the first feeling, audit required 

 an exertion of reason to get over it.' 



In this and other expeditions, as well as by means of 

 trained native collectors dispatched in different directions 

 as far as Cashmeer and the borders of Chinese Tartary, Dr. 

 Falconer made large additions to Indian Botany, which have 

 been freely acknowledged by Dr. Eoyle and other botanical 

 writers. Dr. Eoyle • states that Falconer's ' untirmg zeal 

 induced him to travel much in the midst of the rainy season, 



in honour of his friend Dr. Falconer, 

 ' who is as zealous and able a botanist 

 as he has shown himself to be a dis- 

 tinguished zoologist.' — lb., p. 354. 



' Illustrations of Botany of the Hima- 

 layahs, vol. i. 1839, pp. 362, 367. A 

 new genus of the family of Antidesmecs 

 was designated by Dr. Eoyle, Falcofieria, 



