Snow on the Himalayas, 



219 



find that the mferences drawn by Dr. Lord are by no means correct, 

 for although the high steppes of Central Asia stretch away to the 

 northward of the Himalaya, the country immediately to the south- 

 ward of them by no means corresponds to the low and swampy 

 tracts on the north of the Hindoo Koosh, between which and the 

 plains of Hindustan he would seem to draw a parallel. The 

 mountains south of the true snowy range, although perhaps gene- 

 rally lower than its own elevated and rugged peaks, are still lofty, 

 and considerably exceed the height of Cabul and Koh-i-damun, 

 being for a distance of more than a hundred miles a mere confused 

 series of mountains upon mountains, without any approach to plains 

 or alluvial valleys, such as are interspersed between and characterise 

 the hilly tracts of Affghanistan. Indeed it is moreover a fact, that 

 to the south of the Roonung and Hungrung Passes, there are 

 mountains of a very superior elevation to either of them, as for 

 instance the Giant peaks of Ruldung, rising to the height of 22,000 

 feet above the sea, and consequently exceeding them by about 7,000 

 feet, or nearly one-half of their elevation, while at the same time 

 they are more than three times the height of " the elevated lands of 

 Cabul and Koh-i-damun." Thus it is evident, that no parallel 

 can be drawn between the southern hilly aspect of the Himalaya, 

 and the northern swampy flats of Turkistan ; for the former actually 

 far exceed in elevation even the southern aspect of the latter 

 mountains. Nor can any fair comparison be made between the 

 northern steppes of the Himalaya and the southern elevated plains 

 of the Hindoo Koosh, for while the steppes of the north are as 

 high fif not more soj as a great portion of what appears as the 

 snowy range, the plains of Cabul and of Koh-i-damun are on the 

 contrary not more than one-third of the height of the Hindoo Koosh. 



But the same points which are here insisted on as facts are 

 observable at Simla, without travelling even to the snowy range 

 for proofs, for it is notorious to all who have visited the Hills, that 

 the snow lies longest on the northern face of Mount Jacko, than 

 on any other part of it ; and in the summer of 1836, after the 

 severe snow storm which the place experienced in spring, snow was 

 procurable on the northern exposure even on the 10th May, while 

 from every other aspect it had disappeared weeks before. 



2 N 



