56 Notes upon some Atmospherical Phenomena [No. 1. 



ascent of heated air, and as rapid a descent of cold air to supply its 

 place. Standing at an elevation of 7,000 feet and looking down 

 into the valleys at the foot of the Goong range, South of Darjiling, 

 small patches of clouds are seen to form at an elevation of about 

 2,000 feet, which with great rapidity rush up the side of the moun- 

 tains, increasing in size at every hundred feet from the rapid con- 

 densation of the heated vapoury particles as they meet with a colder 

 medium ; upon reaching the summit of the lofty Goong range a 

 mountain 7,400 feet in height and encountering a cold Southern 

 blast from the upper regions of the atmosphere, they are again 

 dragged down into the valley by this stream of air and at the same 

 rapid pace they had ascended with ; but decreasing in size until at 

 an elevation of 2,000 feet they again disappear, then water particles 

 re-expanding into an invisible vapour. I have seen this wild race 

 of clouds kept up for hours until the sun sinking in the West 

 and depriving the valleys of their heat put an end to this lively 

 scene. 



Looking down from Darjiling into the deep and capacious val- 

 ley of the Eungeet river, the following beautiful appearance may 

 generally be seen during the early mornings of the spring ■ and 

 summer. The valley, from the source of the great E-ungeet to its 

 junction with the Teesta river a distance of fifty miles, may be seen 

 filled to the height of 2,000 feet with a heavy dense and snow-white 

 mass of cumulus, resembling the softest and fairest carded cotton ; 

 the upper surface of the cloud upon which the spectator gazes is 

 broken into a thousand softly outlined and rounded masses of cumu- 

 li. The whole mass has a gentle motion with the stream of the 

 Bungeet. 



This phenomenon is caused by the cold from the water descending 

 from the snows and glaciers condensing the warmer vapour at the 

 bottom of the valley. 



The sun's appearance and warmth is the signal for the dispersion 

 of this very beautiful object. 



The last phenomenon that I shall notice, is one that from its 

 singular appearance has given rise to the idea that Kunchinjinga, 

 the highest measured mountain in the world, and which rises to the 

 height of 28,177 feet above the sea, is a volcano. 



