960 Remarks on the Snow line in the Himalaya. [Sept. 



Tibetan side of the chain the (approximate) heights will be found to be 

 20,000 feet on the south, and 18,000 to 18,500 feet on the north face 

 of the same hill." — These observations then appear to establish the 

 fact that from the southern snowy range to the northern or Tibetan 

 one, the snow line is always, on every hill or range, the outer ones 

 inclusive, at a lower elevation on the northern than on the southern 

 slopes. 



But Gerard proceeds to tell us, that " the cheeks (of the Borendo 

 pass, on the Bissehir range) are perfectly naked long before this time 

 of the year (August 1822,) and the trough formed by them, although 

 sheeted with snow at the summer solstice, is now (August) bare rock 

 down to the ravine on the south side, with the exception of some ac- 

 cumulations, which will be very much diminished before another month ; 

 and some seasons, as in the former (1821.) the whole face of the decli- 

 vity without a patch of snow. On the north, there lies a vast field 

 which never dissolves."* 



So again, Captain Jack says, — " I crossed the Borendo ghat on the 

 25th September 1842, and there was no snow at all on the southern 

 aspect, or on the very summit of the pass ; but descending a few yards 

 on the northern aspect to the base of a rock which was nearly perpen- 

 dicular, we had the pleasure of seeing our baggage, coolies, &c. decend- 

 ing most rapidly by their own gravity upon an unbroken bed of snow ex- 

 tending 250 to 300 yards in one slope, forming an angle of about 45°." 



Here then, we have different observers in different years proving that 

 on the Bissehir range, the snow lies deeply and extensively on its 

 northern face, even when there is none on the southern aspect; we have 

 consequently the very same phenomena apparent, from the outer snowy 

 range up to the northernmost one, proving that the local facts of 

 Kumaon are not facts in the western parts of the Himalaya, and show- 

 ing moreover, since the true southern aspect of the chain becomes denu- 

 ded of snow, — that while there is a snow line on the northern or Tibetan 

 aspect, there is no permanent snow line on the southern face of the Bis- 

 sehir range. 



It is however due to my opponent to state, that I am not aware that 

 the elevation of the passes on the Bissehir range have ever been cor- 

 rectly ascertained, for although Dr. Gerard has somewhere stated the 

 f Loyd and Gerard's tours in the Himalaya, p. 327. 



