302 On the Snow-line in the Himalaya. [April, 



crossed Manerung pass, 18,612 feet," a pass on the range that divides 

 Piti from Kunawar, " there was only about a foot of snow, which was 

 new and had fallen a few days before." " In October on the ridge 

 above Nako," about 5 miles north of the great bend in the Sutlej, " we 

 ascended to 19,41 1 feet, and the snow which was all new and no more 

 than a few inches deep, was only met with in the last 400 or 500 feet ; 

 this was on the face of the range exposed to the west, but on the oppo- 

 site side no snow was seen at almost 20,000 feet." — (p. 160). During 

 the whole of our expedition into Hundes in September 1848, we only 

 saw very small patches of snow in two places, on both occasions in 

 sheltered ravines ; but in the part of the country through which we 

 passed perpetual snow is not to be looked for, the highest mountains 

 probably not exceeding 18,000 feet in height. In the true plains of 

 Tibet, snow would be just as difficult to find in the summer months, as 

 in the plains of India. From my own observations made in this journey, 

 I infer that the height of the limit of snow on the southern face of 

 Kailas is not less than 19,500 feet ; and there is nothing now on record 

 that I know of, that indicates the latitude beyond which the snow-line 

 again begins to descend. 



From a review of the whole of the facts that have been brought for- 

 ward, it may I think be considered as fully established, that M. Hum- 

 boldt, though underestimating the actual elevation of the snow-line, was 

 certainly right in what he advanced as to the relative height on the two 

 opposite faces of the chain. The doubts that were raised by Capt. Hutton 

 on this point in his paper entitled " Correction of the erroneous doctrine 

 that the snow lies longer and deeper on the southern than on the 

 northern aspect of the Himalaya," were perhaps almost sufficiently 

 answered by Mr. Batten at the time they were first brought forward ; 

 but as I have reopened the whole question I will add a few words on 

 this subject also.* 



* Vide M'Clelland's Journal, Nos. 14, 16, 19, 21. Captain Hutton's first letter 

 begins thus; "Previous to my trip through Kunawar in 1838, I had frequently 

 heard it contended that the snow lay longer, deeper, and farther down on the 

 southern exposure of the Himalaya than it was found to do on the northern aspect, 

 you may therefore easily imagine my astonishment, when crossing the higher 

 passes through Kunawar, Hungrung and Pitti, I found the actual phoenomena to be 

 diametrically opposite to such a doctrine, and that the northern slopes invariably 



