The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-02-04
Snow Two Hundred Feet Deep

Snow Two Hundred Feet Deep.
The following remarkable account.
from the London Times, of enormous
snowtalls In Northwestern India, shows
what world of vapor is carried inland on
the monsoons from the Indian ocean. to
strike against the loftiest mountain chain
IN the world, and be precipitated in such
SHOWS and rains as occur on the middle
slopes and foot hills of the Himalayas.
About the sources of some of the great
rivers OF India occur the heaviest rains
ever known and further east, in Cash
mere, it seems the SHOWS are sometimes
terrific. The London Times says:
Some interesting details of this ex-
traordlnary snowfall in Cashmere in 1877
rs are given in paper in the just-issued
No. OF the Journal Of the Asiatic Society
Of Bengal, by Mr.. Lydekker. Early in
the month of October, 1877, snow com
menced to fall in the valley and noun
talns OF Cashmere, and from that time up
to May, 1873, there seemed to have been
an almost lncessant snowfall in the
higher mountains and valleys; indeed,
IN places 1t frequently showed without
lntermlsslon for upward of ten DAYS at
time At Dras, which has an elevation
of ten thousand feet, Mr.. Lydekker esti-
mated the snowfall from the native ac-
count as having been from thirty to forty
feet thick. The effects of this enormous
snowfall were to be seen throughout the
country. At Dras, the well-built trav-
ellers bungalow, which has stood some
thirty years, was entirely crushed down
by the weight of the snow which fell
upon it.
In almost every village of the neigh
boring mountains more or less of the log
houses had fallen, while at Culinary and
Sonomarg, where no attempt was made
to remove the snow, almost all the huts
OF the European visitors were utterly
broken down by it, In the higher noun
tains whole hillsides have been denuded
OF vegetation and soil by the enormous
avalanches which swept down them, Ieav-
ing vast gaps in the primeval forests, and
closing the valleys below with the de5yis
OF rocks and trees AS an instance of the
amount of snow which must have fallen in
the higher levels, Mr.. Lydekker mentions
the Zogl pass, leading from Cashmere to
Dras, which has an elevation of IL, 800
feet. He crossed this early in August
last year, and then found that the whole
OF the ravine leading up to the pass from
the Cashmere side was still filed with
snow, which he estimated in places to be
at least $50 feet thick. In ordinary sea-
sons this road in the Zogi pass is clear
from snow some time during the month
of June. Asanother 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 val
ley of the Kishengunga river. About
the middle of August almost the whole
of the aforementioned valley, at an eleva-
ton of $4,000 feet, was completely choked
with snow, which in places was at least
200 feet deep. In the same district all
passes over $4,000 feet were still deep
IN snow at the same 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 destruction of ami.
NAL life in the Upper Wardwan valley,
large numbers of ibex were seen imbed-
ded in snow; in one place upwards of
sixty head were counted, and in another
not less than one hundred. The most
convincing proofs, however, of the havoc
caused among the wild animals by the
great snowfalls 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 num-
erous than usual. Mr.. Lydekker esti-
mates that the destruction to animal life
caused by snow has far exceeded any
slaughter which could be inflicted by
sportsmen during period of at least FIVE
or six Years