HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 255 



diflantthan lSoEnglilh or about 130 Geographic miles. If this dis- 

 tance might be relied on, the height to be inferred from thatobferva- 

 tion of altitude, after a due allowance for terreftrial refraction, would 

 confiderably exceed that of Ckimborazo, being not lefs than 26,000 feet 

 above the level of the plains of North Bengal. But, as the di (lance 

 was not afcertained wkh fufficient accuracy for the purpofe of confi- 

 dently grounding on it a calculation of this nicety, I propofed to deter- 

 mine it by obfervations of the bearings, of the fame peak from two 

 places diltant enough to afford an adequate bafe, the length of which 

 might be found by corredt furvey. Not having had the means of com- 

 pleting the inquiry upon the principle here explained, I recommended 

 it to "the attention of the late Lieutenant Colonel Colebrooke, by 

 whom it was profecuted during his furvey of Rohilkhand^ and it has 

 been further purfued to a fatisfactory rcfult by his affiftant Lieutenant 

 Webb, during his journey towards the fources of the Ganges, and 

 finally during a furvey of the province of Gdrakhpur* 



Colonel Colebrooke's notice was alfo drawn to thefubjeft by the 

 communications of Dr. Francis Buchanan and Lieutenant Colonel 

 Crawford, who both vifited Nepal in 1802, and who were convinced 

 by the information they received there, from intelligent perfons, that 

 the fources of the Ganges are on the fouthern face of the Himalaya, and 

 that thefe mountains are of vaft height. He had hkewif&a knowledge 

 of a furvey by Lieutenant Colonel Crawford executed in 1805 along 

 the northern frontier from Behar to Rchilkhand ; in which bearings 

 were taken of every remarkable peak of the fnowy range, which could 

 be feenfrom more than one ftation ; and consequently the diflance of 

 thofe peaks from the places of obTervation, and their geogr.iphic.il pofi- 

 tions relatively to the plains of Hindu/lJn t yrcK determined by the fefJ 



