124 DORJILING. Chap. V. 



of the horizon, along which the perpetual snow forms an 

 unbroken girdle or crest of frosted silver ; and in winter, 

 when the mountains are covered down to 8000 feet, this 

 white ridge stretches uninterruptedly for more than 160°. 

 No known view is to be compared with this in extent, 

 when the proximity and height of the mountains are con- 

 sidered; for within the 80° above mentioned more than 

 twelve peaks rise above 20,000 feet, and there are none 

 below 15,000 feet, while Kinchin is 28,178, and seven 

 others above 22,000. The nearest perpetual snow is on 

 Nursing, a beautifully sharp conical peak 19,139 feet high, 

 and thirty-two miles distant; the most remote mountain 

 seen is Donkia, 23,176 feet high, and seventy-three miles 

 distant ; whilst Kinchin, which forms the principal mass 

 both for height and bulk, is exactly forty-five miles 

 distant. 



On first viewing this glorious panorama, the impression 

 produced on the imagination by their prodigious elevation 

 is, that the peaks tower in the air and pierce the clouds, 

 and such are the terms generally used in descriptions of 

 similar alpine scenery; but the observer, if he look again, 

 will find that even the most stupendous occupy a very low 

 position on the horizon, the top of Kinchin itself measuring 

 only 4° 31' above the level of the observer ! Donkia again, 

 which is 23,176 feet above the sea, or about 15,700 above 

 Mr. Hodgson's, rises only 1° 55' above the horizon ; an 

 angle which is quite inappreciable to the eye, when unaided 

 by instruments.* 



This view may be extended a little by ascending Sinchul, 

 which rises a thousand feet above the elevation of Mr. 

 Hodgson's house, and is a few miles south-east of 



* These are the apparent angles which I took from Mr. Hodgson's house (alt. 

 7300 feet) with an excellent theodolite, no deduction being made for refraction. 



