The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-12-11
Remarkable Snow Storms in India.

Soms Interesting details of the extra
ordinary snowfall in Cashmere in 1877
7S are given in paper in the Just is
sued number of the journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal by Mr.. Ly-
dekker. Early in the month of Octo-
Der, 1877, snow commenced to
fall in the valley and mountains
of Cashmere, and from that
time up to May, 1873, there seems to
have been an almost incessant snow
fall in the higher mountains and val
leys; indeed, in places it frequently
| showed without intermission for up
wards of ten days at time. At Dras,
which has an elevation of 10, ZOO feet,
Mr.. Lydekker estimated the snowfall
from the native account. as having been
from thirty feet to forty feet thick. The
effects of this enormous snowfall were
to be seen throughout the country. At
Dras the well built travellers bungalow,
which had stood some thirty years, was
entirely crushed down by the weight of
the snow which fell upon it. In almost
every village of the neighboring mount
aims more or less of the log houses had
likewise fallen, while at Gulmarg and
Sonamarg, where no attempt was made
to remove the snow, almost all the huts
ri the, Enropeans visitors wers utterly
broken down by it. In the higher
mountains whole hillsides have been
denuded of vegetation and soil by the
enormous avalanches which swept down
them, leaving vast gaps in the primeval
forests and choking the valleys below
with the debris of rocks and trees. As
an instance of the amount of snow
which must have fallen in the higher
rla . L.
Pass, leading from Cashmere to Dras,
which has an elevation of IL 800 feet.
He crossed this early in August last
year, and he then found that the whole
of the ravine leading up to the pass
from the Cashmere side was still filled
with snow, which he estimated in places
to be at least $50 feet thick. In ordi-
nary seasons this road in the Zogi Pass
is clear from snow some time during
the month of June. As another instance
of the great snowfall, Mr.. Lydekker
takes the valley leading from the town
of Dras up to the pass separating that
place from the valley of the kishen-
gunga River. About the middle of
August almost the whole of the first
mentioned valley, at an elevation of
$4,000 feet. was completely choked with
snow, which in places was at least 200
feet thick. In the same district all
passes over 5000 feet were still deep
in snow at the sane season of the year.
Mr.. Lydekker gives other instances of
snow lying in places in September,
where no snow had ever before been
observed after June. As to the destruc-
ton of animal life, in the Upper Ward
wan Valley large numbers of ibex were
seen embedded in snow; in one place
upwards of so head were counted, aud
in another not less than 100. The most
convincing proof, however, of the havoc
caused among the wild animals by the
great snowfall is the fact that scarcely
any ibex were seen during last summer
in those portions of the Wardwan and
Tilail Valleys which are ordinarily con-
sidered as sure finds. So also the red |
bear and the marmot were far less
numerous than usual. Mr.. Lydekker |
estimates that the destruction to ami |
NAL life caused by the snow has far
exceeded any slaughter which could be
inflictcd'by sportsmen during a period |
of at least five or six years.