Snow on the Himalayas, 



281 



falls of rain. Now the monsoon does not extend to the northern as- 

 pect of the Himalaya, and may indeed be said to cease altogether on 

 the Cis-Himalayan or southern face, not even reaching positively 

 and decidedly to Roonung or Hungrung, although no doubt exer- 

 cising some influence on them. While the rain therefore would 

 exercise comparatively little influence on the northern snows, the 

 humidity and exhalations which would naturally be induced along 

 the belt of southern forests over which the rain was falling, would 

 operate powerfully in reducing the amount of snow on the Cis- 

 Himalayan exposure. 



Although the village of Chini, in Kunawur, has hitherto been 

 considered to be beyond the influence of the monsoon, it is neverthe- 

 less within it, and on my return from Pitti in July, I fell in with 

 mists and light rains more than two marches beyond that point. 

 Dense mists and clouds came rushing up from the south through the 

 break in the Himalayan chain, caused by the valley or glen of the 

 Sutluj, and these mists had caused the disappearance of all snow from 

 southern aspects, while portions still remained on the north, although 

 daily diminishing in quantity. This continues until towards the 

 conclusion of the monsoon, when falls of snow again commence over 

 the more elevated tracts in September, and accumulate with occa- 

 sional thaws until the return of summer. 



To the foregoing proofs, I shall now add the lately received corro- 

 borative testimony of Captain Cunningham. The first communica- 

 tion on the subject was dated from Leo, on the Spittee river, April 

 6th 1842, and is as follows : " I was at Chooret during the coldest 

 part of the year, about 12,000 feet above the sea, continual snow and 

 blow, but as I was in a ravine I never saw the thermometer at sunrise 

 below minus 11°. I have since the middle of February been moving 

 about within small limits, partly for the sake of variety, though 

 that's not much amid a monotonous desolation, and partly for the 

 facility of procuring wood and supplies. In this country a southerly 

 wind and the sun together kept slopes with a southern exposure, and 

 12 and 13,000 feet high, quite clear of snow, (except when it was ac- 

 tually snowing,) and this too towards the end of January, and 

 beginning of February, or I may say at all times, (for the gusts of 

 wind were most furious, and until I devised certain remedies, I used 



