382 Correspondence. 



" the Haus Bussun is the last pinnacle of the chain before it is broken 

 by the Sutlej, and could not have been more than five miles from him, 

 but it was not visible from where he then was, on the Borendo Pass. 

 The cheebs of the Pass 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 accumulations, 

 which will be very much diminished before another month ; and some 

 seasons, as the former (1821,) the whole face of the declivity is without a 

 patch of snow. On the north side there lies a vast field which never dissolves. 

 At about 1,000 feet below the crest it breaks up, but continues in slips 

 and scattered masses to the bottom of the dell, or where the stream 

 finds a regular channel at 13,500 feet ; and where the cliffs are steep, it 

 occurs at a much lower level." (Lloyd and Gerard's Tours in the Hima- 

 laya, p. 327-328.; 



These observations then appear to furnish a complete answer to Mr. 

 Batten's challenge, and prove that the perpetual snow line must 

 be looked for on the Northern aspect of the mountains, as it is evident 

 from the facts mentioned by Captain Jack, Dr. Gerard, Dr. Lord, Cap- 

 tain Cunningham and myself, that the snow in some seasons deserts the 

 Southern aspect altogether, and consequently that there is no perpetual 

 snow on the Southern aspects ; it may perhaps sometimes last for several 

 years without entirely disappearing, but yet there are occasional sea- 

 sons in which the whole Southern snow of particular localities is dis- 

 solved, and thus at once destroys its right to be called eternal; on 

 the northern side of the high peaks it never entirely melts, and con- 

 sequently the perpetual snow occurs only on that aspect. A person 

 may therefore reside several years in these hills without seeing the 

 whole of the Southern side uncovered at one time, although every year 

 he may witness the denudation of some localities on that aspect, and 

 thus he may be led to suppose that the southern snows are eternal, 

 an opinion which is above shewn to be erroneous. 



The mere continuance of snow on any spot does not suppose that 

 snow never melts there. Were that the case, a progressive and 

 unceasing accumulation would be the result ; the position of the snow 

 line, or what is often erroneously called the line of perpetual congelation, is 

 determined solely by this circumstance, that during one complete revo- 

 lution of the seasons, or in the course of a year, the snow which falls 

 is just melted, and no more."* 



* Professor Forbes' Travels through the Alps. p. 18. 



