Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
by Victor Jacquemont, has also given occasion to great hypsometric
exaggerations. By a careful barometrical measurement, Jacquemont found
the height of the Wulur Lake in the valley of Kashmeer, not far from
the chief city Sirinagur, 836 toises, or 5346 English feet. Uncertain
determinations by the boiling point of water gave Baron Carl von Hügel
a result of 910, and Lieutenant Cunningham only 790 toises. (Compare
my Asie Centrale, tom. iii. p. 310, with the Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, vol. x. 1841, p. 114.) Kashmeer,--respecting
which, in Germany particularly, so much interest has been felt, but
the delightfulness of whose climate is considerably impaired by four
months of winter snow in the streets of Sirinagur (Carl von Hügel,
Kaschmir, Bd. ii. S. 196),--is not situated, as is often supposed,
upon the ridge of the Himalaya, but is a true cauldron-shaped valley
(Kesselthal, Caldera,) on the southern declivity of those mountains.
On the south-west, where the rampart-like elevation of the Pir Panjal
separates it from the Punjaub, the snow-covered summits are crowned,
according to Vigne, with formations of basalt and amygdaloid. The
latter formation has received from the natives the characteristic name
of “schischak deyu,” marked by the devil’s small-pox. (Vigne, Travels
in Kashmeer, 1842, vol. i. p. 237-293.) The beauty of its vegetation
has from the earliest times been very differently described, according
as the visitor came from the rich and luxuriant vegetation of India, or
from the northern regions of Turkestan, Samarcand, and Ferghana.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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