The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-06 00:00:00

THE MOUNTAINS OF ASIA.

The mountains of Asia take precedence of al!
others its altitude awl length of range. The mean
height of the Himalaya is stupendous. Captain
Gerard and his bro•her estimated th d it could not b.-
less than 16,000 to 20 000 feet; but from the averag,
elevation of the passes over these mount sins, Baron
Humboldt thinks it must be under 15,700, Co-
lonel Sabine e:tinaates it to be only 11,510
feet, though the peaks exceeding thd eleva-
tion are not to be numbered, especially at the sources
of the Sutl, j. Indeed, from that river to the Kalee,
the chain exhibits an endless succession of the loftiest
mountains on earth ; forty of them surpass the heights
of Chimborazo, one of the highest of the Andes,
and several reach the height of 25,000 feet a'
least. The valleys are crevices-so deep aced narrow,
and the mountains that hang over them in menacing
cliffs are so lofty, that these abysses are shrouded
in perpetual gloom, except where the rays of a ver-
tical sun penetrate their depths. From the steepness
of the descent the rivers shoot down with the swift-
ness of an arrow, filling the caverns with foam and
the air with mist. Most of the passes over the
Himalaya are but little lower than the top of
' Mount Blanc; many are higher, especially near
the Sale), where they are from 18 000 to 19,000
feet high; and that north-east of Khoonawur is
20,000 feet above the level of the sea, the highest
that has been attempted. All are terrific, and the
fatigue and suffering from the rarity of the air in
the last 500 feet is not to be described. Animals
are as much distressed as human beings, and many
of them die; thousands of birds perish from the
violence of the rsinds ; the drifting snow is often fatal
to travellers, and violent thunder-storms add to the
horror of the journey. The Niti Pass, by which Mr.
Moorcroft ascended to the sacred lake of Manasa, in

Tibet, is tremendous; he and his guide had not
only to walk barefooted, from the risk of slipping,
but they were obliged to creep ulong the most
frightful chasms, holding by twigs and tufts of grass,
and sometimes they crossed deep and awful crevices
on a branch of a tree, or on loose stones thrown across.
Yet these are the thoroughfares for commerce in the
Himalayas, never repaired, nor susceptible of improv-
inent, from frequent landslips and torrents. The lof
Hest peaks, being bare of snow, give great variety of
colour and beauty to the scenery, which in these passes
is at all times magnificent. During the day, the
stupendous size of the mountains, their interminable
extent, the variety and sharpness of their forms,
and, above all, the tender clearness of their distant
outline melting into the pale blue sky, contrasted
with the deep azure above, is described as a scene to
wild and wonderful beauty. At midnight, when my-
riath of stars sparkle in the black sky, and the pure
blue of the mountains looks deeper still below the
pale white gleam of the earth and snowlight, the
effect is of unparalleled sublimity ; and no lan-
itugge can describe the splendour of the sunbeams o•
daybreak streaming between the high peaks, and
throwing their gigantic shadows on the mountains
below. There, far above the habitation of man, no
living thing exists, no sound is hoard ; the very echo
of the traveiler's fOotsteps startles him in the awful
solitude and silence that reigns in these august
dwellings of the everlasting snow.—Blackwoocts
ilagazine.

THE WEST JERSEY TORNADO.—A Bridgeton paper
of Wednesday furnishes some further particulars con
ceroing the tornado that swept over Cape May on the
4th inst. It made its appearance about five o'clock, A.M.,
travelling from the west towards the east. From the
effects of the wind upon a corn field below Jonas
Corston's house, it is believed that two currents of air,
one from the north-west and the other from the south-
west, met together, and after meeting moved eastwardlv,
literally tearing in pieces everything in its track of 50
yards in width. Fields of corn. fences. trees, barn:,
dwelling-houses, everything, were as straws in the hands
of a giant. A large new house, occupied by Joseph
Godfrey, was blown prostrate to the ground, although
his family, consisting of his wile and two children,
miraculously escaped without msterial injury. The
house of Joas Corston was raised off its foundation,
tarred over twice, and then torn into a thousand pieces.
from where the house
uptodoeda-
I.:,1 this house were two women—one, the wife of Mr.
Corston, was taken dtahbeouotthtehri,rtynaymaredds
Eunice
Young. bister of Mr. 5 '
Corston,
was. mangled
in such
a horrible manner *that there
.is no hope of. her
recovery. The next house d
Somers Young. This was aess"troyed bwas. occupied by
house, but not one pieceof
timheorng- built two-story.
was left standing
upon another. The wife of Mr. Young, with tw
children, were sleeping in the first story of
the house.
youngioue'
Although her bedstead was broken to pieces and -th e bed
blown from under them they escaped unhurt. The
second story was occupied by a woman and her daugh-
ter, who were found in the ruins of the building, con.
siderably, but not dangerously, cut and bruised. Several
outbuildings, shops, and barns were torn down.. A
large two-story house, occupied by Wathington Wdlets,