The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-01-08
Snow Two Hundred Feet Deep.

The following remarkable account, from
the London Times, OF enormous snoWiaHs
in Northwestern India, shows what world
OF yapor is carried inland on the monsoOns
from the Indian ocean, 10 strike against the
Iofticst mountain chain IN the world. and
be precipitated in such SHOWS and rains as
occur on the middle slopes and foot hills OF
the HmaIayas. About the sources Of some
OF the great rivers Of India occur the heayi-
est rains ever known; and further east. in
Cashmere. il seems the SHOWS are some
times terrific. The London Time. says:
Some interesting details of This eStraordi.
nary snowfall in Cashmere in 1877 rs are
given ia a paper in the iust-issued No. Of
| the journal Of the Asiatic society OF Ben
gal, by Nj. Lydekker. Early IN lhe month
Of October, 1877, snow commenced TO iall
IN the valley and mountains OF cashmere,
and from that time up to Nav, 1873, there
seemed TO have been an almost incesSant
| snowfall in The higher mountains and val
| ley>. indeed, in places il frequently showed
without intermission for upward Of ten
DAYS at time. Al DraS, which has an
elevation OF ten thousand feet, Mr.. Ly-
dekker estimated the snowfall from the
native account as having been from thirty
| to forty feet thick. The effects OF this enOr-
nous snowfall were 10 be seen throughout
the country. At Dras, the well-bulit trav-
ellcr's bungalow, which has stood some
thirty wears, was entn ely crushed down by
the weight OF the snow which fell upon It,
In almost every village OF the neghboring
mountains more or less OF the Lighthouses
had fallen, while at Gulmarg and Sono-
marg, where no attempt was made 10
remove the snow, almost all the hUts
OF the European visitors were utterly
broken down by il. In the higher noun
tajns whole hilIsides have been denuded
OF vegetation and soil by the enormous ava
lanches which swept down them, leav-
ing vast gaps in the primcval forests, and
closing 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 levels, Mr.. Lydekker mentions
the Zogi pass, leading from Cashmere to
Dras. which has an elevation OF II, 1900 feet.
He crossed this early in August last year,
and then found that the whole of the raylne
leading ND to the pass from the Cashmere
side was still filed with snow, which he es-
timate0 in places 20 be at least $50 feet
thick. In ordinary seasons this road III the
Zogi pass is clear from snow some time du-
ring the month OF jane. As another IN
stance Of the great suOwfaI Mr.. Lydekker
takes the valley leading from the town OF
Dras up to the pass separating that place
from the valley of the Kishengunga river.
About the middle of August almost the
whole of the aforementioned valley, ut an
elevation Of $1,000 feet, was completely
choked with snow, which III places was at
least 200 feet deep. In the same district all
passes over 1900 feet were still deep in
snow at the same season Of the year. Mr..
Lydekker gives other instances OF snow
| living in places in September where no
snow bad ever before been observed after
June. As to the destruction OF animal
life in the Upper Wardwan valley,
| large numbers OF ibeX were seen i'm
bedded in snow; in one place upwards
OF sixtv head were counted, and in another
not less than one hundred. The most con-
yincing proofs, 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 por-
tions of the Wardwan and Tilail valleys,
which are ordinarily considered as sure
finds. So, also, the red bear and the mar
mot were far less numerous than usual
Mr.. Lydekker estimates that the destruction
TO animal life caused by snow has far eX'
ceedcd any slaughter which could be i'll
nicied by spOrsmen during period OF a
| least five or six years.