The existence of glaciera in Western Tibet was first made known by Vigne, who alludes to them in his Travels in Kashmir, ii. p. 285. Colouel Richard Strachey wa.s the first who proved their existence, in 1847, in the Himalaya. On the northern side of the Kara - korum and in the Kouen Lun there are glaciers having forms iden tical with those of the Alps. Some of them are considerably larger than the glaciers in Europe. In the Himalaya the lowest glaciers go down to 10,500 feet,—the Pindari ending at 11,492 feet, the Timtunna at 11,430 feet, the Tisoji at 10,967 feet, and the Chaia at 10,520 feet. In Western Tibet they descend to about the same elevation ; thus the Mustagh to 11,576 feet, the Tap 11,508 feet, the Tami Chuet 10,460 feet, the Bepho glacier near Askoli, even to 9876 feet. The latter is worthy of notice as a remarkable case of low termination. In the Kouen Lun the glaciers end probably at heights not much differing from those in Western Tibet ; at least, so may be inferred from the height of the snow limit, as also from the general appearance of the upper part of the glaciers. The glaciers on both flanks of the Elchi pass present, however, no instances of particularly deep descent.
Dr. Hooker could not discover any in the more eastern valleys, even so low as 14,000 feet, though at the hot season extensive snow-beds reinain un melted at but little above 10,000 feet. The foot of the stupendous glacier filling the broad head of the Thlook is certainly not below 14,000 feet, though, being continuous with the perpettutl snow (or ndve) of the sunimit of Kinchinjingow, itmust have 14,000 feet of ice in perpendicular height, to urge it forwards. Dr. Hooker made frequent excursions t,o the great glacier of Kinchinpngow. Its valley is about four miles long, broad and flat. Chango -khang rears its blue and white cliffs 4500 feet above its west flank, and tlarows down avalanches of stones and snow into the valley. Hot springs burst froin the ground near some granite rocks ou its floor, about 16,000 feet above the sea, and only a mile below the glacier, and the water collects in pools; its temperature is 110°, and in places 116°, or 4° hotter than that of the Yeum-tong hot springs, though 4000 feet higher, and of precisely the aame character. A Barbarett and some other plants make the neighbourhood of the hot springs a little oasis; and the large marmot is common, uttering its sharp, chirping squeak. , Dr. Hooker (ii. p. 7) found the moraines in the Sikkim valleys at 7000 or 8000 feet elevation. This would show either that the climate has changed, or that the mountain mass has become depressed equal to 8000 feet since the formation of the moraines.
In the Western Himalaya, in the Mustagli range, are two glaciers immediately adjoining one another, possessing a united length of 65 miles. Another in their neighbourhood is 21 miles long and from 1 to 2 miles wide. Its upper portion is 24,000 feet above the sea-level, and its lower portion termi nates in masses of ice 250 feet in height and miles in breadth, and is 16,000 feet above the sea Glaciers are called Gal by the Bhotia.
There is a glacier in the valley of Brabaldo, in Little Tibet, a, short distance from the village of Arindo. Its width is about 450 yards, and nearly
a hundred feet high, and a large river flows with velocity from below it.
In 1839, Major A. Cunningham traversed a magnificent glacier which spanned the valley of the Cheli river, below the ICali Debi pass (16,700 feet). It was fissured in all directions, and, look ing down the main fissure, which was five feet wide, he saw the stream trickling at a depth of more than. 300 feet. The surface was covered with hardened snow and embedded stones; but the mass, as seen in the fissures, was clear, transparent ice, filled with white specks. This glacier was about a mile long and a quarter of a mile broad, with an average depth of 200 or 300 feet. In the same range, Dr. Thomson saw a similar glacier to the north of the Saj pass, about 30 miles to the north-west of Kali Debi. In 1847, Major Cunningham crossed a second and larger glacier to the north of the Parang pass, at 18,500 feet. It extended down the head of the Para river for 2,i miles. At its termination it was 50 feet high, but a quarter of a mile upward it was fully 150 feet thick, Dr. Thomson observed a larger glacier on the northern side of the Uma,si La, on crossing into Zaugskar. It extended from the top of the pass, 18,123 feet, down to a level of 14,500 feet, and was not less than three or four miles in length. In ,two different parts of the Shayok, above and below Sassar, seen by Dr. Thomson in 1848, the bed of the stream is completely spanned by enormous glaciers. The great glacier is abont 30 miles below Sassar, and 20 miles above the junction of the Changchen-mo. Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Cunningham (Ladakh, p. 94), describ ing the Shayok or Khundan river, a tributary of the Indus, which rises in the Kara-korum moun tains to the northward of Leh, in lat. 35° N., and long. 78° E., tells us that in these cold and lofty regions ahnost every ravine is filled with a glacier ; that since 1826 the channel of this river had never been clear, and the accumulated waters had formed a lake of considerable size, called Nubra-tsho. This barrier has burst on three recent occasions,—in 1826, 1833, and 1841. In that of 1841, when the rushing waters reached Torbela, on the Indus, the river ca,me down furiously in an absolute wall of mud, a horrible mess of foul water, carcases of soldiers, peasants, war-steeds, camels, prostitutes, tents, mules, asses, trees, and household furniture, in one flood of ruin, for Syam Singh Atariwala, of raja Gulab Singh's army, was encamped in the bed of the Indus at Kulaithree Coss, above Torbela, in check of Painda Khan, and but that part of the troops were then in hot pursuit, the destruction would have been greater. Only those escaped who took at once to the mountain-side. Throughout the mountain course of the Indus, fields, houses, and trees were swept away, but man and the animals which he had domestiepted generally managed to escape. The waterstt 3,51)e Indu,s below the junctions of the Shayok, rothe saw'height of 60 feet, and to 30 fe,et Skardo.