178 E. Ljdekker — Great Snow-fallin Kashmir. [No. 4, 



quite impossible that even half the amount of snow then remaining could 

 be melted during the summer. 



I heard subsequently from a traveller who crossed the pass on the 5th 

 of September, that the road was then just beginning to get clear from snow, 

 and that some of his loads were carried along it, while others were taken 

 over the snow in the ravine. 



In ordinary seasons this road on the Zogi-pass is clear from snow 

 some time during the month of June ; if we refer to page 223 of Mr. Drew's 

 " Jammoo and Kashmir Territories," we shall find that in speaking of this 

 pass, he says, " About the beginning of June the snow-bed breaks up, and 

 the ravine is no longer passable." 



It is thus apparent that the road across the Zogi-la was not clear of 

 snow during the past summer until three months later than it is in normal 

 seasons, while the ravine early in September was still filled with snow. I 

 crossed the same pass in August 1874, and at that time there was not the 

 slightest trace of snow to be seen anywhere on the pass, or in the ravine 

 leading up to it. As another instance of the great snow-fall, I will take 

 the valley leading from the town of Dras up to the pass separating that 

 place from the valley of the Kishenganga river. About the middle of 

 August, almost the whole of the first-mentioned valley, at an elevation of 

 12,000 feet, was completely choked with snow, which in places was at least 

 200 feet in thickness. In the same district all passes over 13,000 feet were 

 still deep in snow at the same season of the year. In ordinary seasons the 

 passes in this district which are not more than 15,000 feet in height are 

 completely cleared of snow at the beginning of August, except in a few 

 sheltered ravines. During last summer, however, it was quite impossible, 

 that the snow could have even melted on the passes. 



Traces of this great snow-fall were even to be observed in the outer 

 hills in September, since at the end of that month, I saw a patch of snow 

 resting in a hollow of the Haji Pir ridge above Uri, which is only a little 

 over 9,000 feet in height. The Thakadar of this place told me that he had 

 never before seen snow there after the beginning of June. 



It is almost unnecessary to point out, that if a snow-fall similar to the 

 above were to be of constant occurrence in the Himalaya, the perma- 

 nent snow-line would lie at a much lower level than it does at present, and 

 that the glaciers would greatly increase in size, and descend much lower into 

 the valleys. 



In conclusion, it remains to notice the destruction of animal life caused 

 by this unusual snow-fall. In the upper Wardwan valley I was told by 

 some European travellers that they had several times seen numbers of Ibex 

 embedded in the snow ; in one place upwards of sixty heads were counted, 

 and in another the number of carcases was estimated by my informant as 



