"
If the mean altitude of the thibetian highlands be 11,510 feet, they admit
of comparison with the lovely and fruitful plateau of Caxamarca in Peru.
But at this estimate they would still be 1300 feet lower than the plateau of
Bolivia at the Lake of Titicaca, and the causeway of the town of Potosi.
Ladak, as appears from Vigne's measurement, by determining the
boiling-point, is 9994 feet high. This is probably also the altitude of
H'Lassa (Yul-sung), a monastic city, which Chinese writers describe as the
'realm of pleasure', and which is surrounded by vineyards. Must not these
lie in deep valleys?
As the quantity of moisture in the atmosphere increases with the
temperature, this element, which is so important for the whole organic
creation, must vary with the hours of the day, the seasons of the year, and
the differences in latitude and elevation. Our knowledge of the hygrometric
relations of the Earth's surface has been very materially augmented of late
years by the general application of August's psychrometer, framed in
accordance with the views of Dalton and Daniell, for determining the
relative quantity of vapor, or the
p 333
condition of moisture of the atmosphere, by means of the difference of the
'dew point' and of the temperature of the air.
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