58 Tableau of High Asia. [No. 1, 



Mexico, have increased, between the years 1806 and 1823, from 195° 

 Faht. to 206°. 6 Faht.,* thus exceeding at present the temperature of 

 the " Aguas de^Comangillas" by 1°.3 Faht. 



The hottest known spring of Europe, unconnected with present 

 volcanoes, is that of Chaudes Aigues in Auvergne (temp. 176° 

 Faht.).f 



III. Physical Phenomena. 

 1. Snovj-fall. 



The lowest height at which snow has fallen in the Himalaya 

 during the winter, is about 2,500 ft., but such cases are extremely 

 rare, having occurred in Kamdon and Garhval only twice (in 1817 

 and 1847), since the British took possession of the country. J Snow 

 has fallen in the memory of man only once in Nahan§ (3,207 ft.), in 

 the province of Simla. The snow, which falls once within several 

 years in the Kangra valley, down to heights of 3,000 and 2,700 ft., 

 disappears almost immediately. At Haribagh the snow melts away 

 on the day it falls, or at least within thirty-six hours. During my 

 travels in Kulu, I was informed by the natives, as well as by several 

 gentlemen who knew this part of the country thoroughly, that the 

 village of Mandi (2,480 ft.), is below the limit of snow-fall. 



At an elevation of 5,000 ft. scarcely one year passes by without 

 snow-fall ; but, even at this height, the snow disappears after a few 

 days, and sometimes even hours. " It snows, but one does not see 

 it," the natives of Kathmandu (4,354 ft.) very significantly use to 

 say, meaning, that the rare nightly snow-falls are melted away by the 

 earliest rays of the sun. 6,000 ft. may be assigned as the limit in 

 the Himalaya, where snow regularly falls in winter, with the proba- 

 bility of remaining some time upon the ground. 



In Western Tibet and in the Karakorum, the general elevation of 

 the country is so great, even in its lowest regions, that no part lies 

 below the limit of hibernal snow-fall. But the quantity of snow 

 actually falling is inconsiderable, and this circumstance it is, which 

 forms one of the chief causes that the passes of the Karakorum, even 



* Humboldt's " Kosmos," Vol. IV., p. 246. 



f Newbold, in " Philos, Transactions," 1845, p. 127. 



X Colonel R. Strachey, in this Journal, Vol. XVIII., Part I., p 309. 



§ This Journal, Vol. III., p. 367. 



