Excerpt from The Abode of Snow: Observations on a Journey From Chinese Tibet to the Indian Caucasus, Through the Upper Valleys of the HimalayaIN the twenty-ninth chapter of this work, I have fully explained how the phrase Abode of Snow is a literal translation of the Sanscrit compound Himalaya, and therefore forms an appropriate title for a. Work treating of those giant mountains. The Abode of Snow par excellence is not in the Himalaya, or even in the Arctic region, but (setting Saturn aside) in the Ant arctic region. Owing to the greater preponderance of ocean in the southern hemisphere, the greatest ao cumulation of ice is round the South Pole; and hence the not improbable theory that, when the accumula tion has reached a certain point, the balance of the earth must he suddenly destroyed, and this orb shall almost instantaneously turn transversely to its axis, moving the great oceans, and so producing one of those cyclical catastrophes which, there is some reason to believe, have before now interfered with the develop ment and the civilisation of the human race.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.