1836.] Notice of a Visit to the Valley of Kashmir. 1 8 7 



ing point on the thermometer advances at great elevations in a similar 

 proportion as the boiling point retrocedes : thus the water boiling for 

 instance with 191, the sun with 44 degrees Fahr., did not make any 

 impression upon a piece of ice lying on a black soil, the latter not 

 being moistened*. This must be the case, although I do not recollect to 

 have seen it mentioned : on a certain height above the surface of the 

 globe, the freezing point and the boiling point must meetf, heat and 

 cold being phenomena belonging exclusively to our globe. My ob- 

 servations led me to believe, that this may be at 84,100 feet above the 

 surface of the sea, or in other words that there finishes our atmosphere. 



The burning gases at Jwalamuki are of a very extraordinary nature, 

 nothing of sulphur or naphtha in them. They have a most delicious smell, 

 something like a French perfume with ambergris. The flames, about 10 

 in number, come out of a dark grey sandstone on perpendicular places : 

 temples are built over them : I attributed the effect to priestcraft, until in 

 one of the temples called Ghurka Debi, I was allowed to try experiments, 

 and remained alone : I blew out the flame, which did not re-ignite from 

 itself : there is nothing particular on the places where the flame came 

 out : no change in the colour or substance of the stone, or in its hard- 

 ness. Water in small quantity is formed in little reservoirs under the 

 flames, being the produce of them : this water takes fire too from time 

 to time, when enough inflammable matter is collected on the surface. I 

 took a bottle of it for you, which Captain Wade will be so kind as to 

 forward to you for examination J ; it has however now undergone a ter- 

 rible alteration by putrefaction, and I am afraid that you will not be able 

 to analyse it. The taste of it when fresh can distinguish nothing of 

 its composition : it is not unpleasant to drink, and of a milky-greenish 

 colour. No traces of volcanic matter near it. 



I have picked up many coins, which appear to me new ; of some I am 

 certain : those of the Kashmirian kings, of the Bauddha time, found near 

 the town Bij Bahara (no doubt a corruption of Vidya vihara, temple of 

 Wisdom, if my Sanscrit does not forsake me) : I intended sending them 

 to you, but they found their way in one of my tin boxes : I cannot guess 

 in which, and for this reason do not open them : whenever I come to 

 them I shall send you them, or their exact likeness. 



* The explanation of this circumstance should rather be sought in the dryness 

 of the air at such an elevation ; and the consequent rapid evaporation which carried 

 off the ice as it melted — ice itself will, it is well known, wholly evaporate in a 

 vacuum. — Ed. 



f By Dalton's tables, the aqueous tension of freezing water is 0.20 inch ; there- 

 fore water will boil and freeze together at a height of 130560 feet, or about 25 

 miles. — Ed. 



X This had not yet reached us : nor the coins, which we desire much to see. — Ed. 

 2 b 2 



