Smyrna times., 1880-01-07
Snow Two Hundred Feet Deep,
THE EXTRAORDINARY SNOW FALL IN CASHMERE
TWO WINTERS AGO.

TWO WINTERS AGO.
Inc following remarkable account, from
Inc London Tunes, OF enormous snow falls
in Northwestern India, shows what world
OF vapor is carried inland en- the monsoons
from the Indian ocean, to strike against the
| lo1tlest mountain chain in the world, ard he
precipitated in such SHOWS and rains "a
occur in the middle slopes and foothills of
the lllmalayas. About the sources of some
OF the great rivers of India occur the
heaviest rains ever known and further
East In Cashmere, it seems the SHOWS are
sometimes terrific. The London Times
says:
Some interesting details of this extra.
ordinary snowfall in l877-7S are given in
paper in the just issued number of tho
journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
10y Mr.. Lydekksr. Early in the month of
October, 1877, snow commenced to fall in
the valleys and mountains Of Cashmers, and
from that time up TO May, 1878, thore
seemed to have been All almost incessant
snowfall in the higher mountains and
valleys; indeed, in places it frequently
showed without'intermission for upward of
ten days at time. At Dras, which has an
elevation of 10000 feet Mr.. Lydekker esti-
mated the snowfall, from the native
| account 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 we'll built travellers
bungalow, which has stood some thirty
years, was entirely crushed down by the
weight OF snow which fell upon it. In
almost every village of the neighboring
mountains more or less of the log houses
had fallen, while at Culinary and Sonomarg,
M of IL -
| snow, almost all the huts Of the European
visitors were utterly broken down bv it.
In the higher mountains whole hillsides
have been denuded of vegetation and soil
| by the enormous avalanchss which swept
down them, leaving vast gaps primeval
forests, and closing the valleys below with
the debris of rocks and trees. As an in
stance of the amount Of snow which must
have fallen in the higher levels, Mr.. Lydek
ker mentions the Isgi pass, leading from
Cashmere to Dras, which has an elevation
| OF ii 300 feet. He crossed this carly in
August last year. and then found that the
whole OF the ravlne 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 ordinary seasons
this road in the Zogi pass is clear from snow
some time during the month Of June. As
another instance of the great snow fall 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 first mentioned valley, at
an elevation of 10000, 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 animal life
in the Upper Wardwan valley large num-
bers OF ibex were seen imbedded in saew {:
in one place upward of 60 heads were
counted, and in another not less than 100.
The most convincing 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 portions of the Wardwan and Tilail
valleys, which are ordinarily considered as
sure finds. So, also, the red bear and the
marmot were far less numerous than usual
Mr.. Lydskker estimates that the destruc-
ton to animal life caused by snow has far
exceeded any slaughter which could be in
flcted by spOrtsmen during a period of at
| least five or six years"