where the eye is saluted with a full view of Mianrī peak, and in the distance, the mountains of Rudr Himalaya crowned by the peak of Dugdī towering to a great height; the pure snows on it shine in the sun's rays with dazzling brilliancy. Rather better path; the river, deep below, foaming in its narrow and rocky bed. Most fantastic great snow peak over Gangotrī. Black rocky peak across the river. Call it Iron Sides. Path as before. Across the river is a cascade falling through a large snow bed; the snow reaches in several places from the river bed on the opposite side, to the summit of the mountains which are very steep. We are almost in sight of Gangotrī. The river flows under beds of snow which have fallen into it from the peaks, and cover it. Pass above a cascade falling over a precipice of grey granite with black sparry spots. Wonderfully steep precipices on both sides of the river; on this side, the rocks are quite bare and shattery. Cross above a cascade falling from a rocky gorge to the left, Path extremely bad. This river below foaming between walls of rock perfectly perpendicular. A sangha (now destroyed) had formerly been laid over at this place by the banditti, who, in the rains, plunder the Cēdārnāth districts to the eastward. The rocks through which the river flows have horizontal strata, and the light hue of Portland stone. They are as usual granite. The cedars here are poor and starved. Rudr Himalaya a snowy peak 95°. Gangotri the small temple of Gāngā Māī and Bhāgirat'hi on right bank of Ganges. The path to day was of the worst description, and is on the whole, I think, the most rugged march we have hitherto had, though there are not any long ascents. Nothing can be more unpleasant than the passage along the rotten ladders and inclined scaffolds, by which the faces and corners of the precipices near Bhairog'hātī are made. The rest of the way lies along the side of a very steep mountain, and is strewed with rocks. The views of the snowy peaks which are on all sides, were very grand and wild. The rocks are of granite, but of a lighter colour than usual, and specks of a bright black sparry substance are interspersed in them at the distances of from one to three inches. The river's bed from Bhairog'hātī to Gauricund, was between mural precipices of 200 or 300 feet high; above them was the steeply inclined ground, along which our path lay. Though very rocky, there were many places with soil where the cedars grew, but not large. Above the path to our left were bare rocky precipices, on the summit of which the snow lies at Gaurīcund and Gangotri the river's bed becomes more open. The temple at Gangotri is a Mundup of stone of the smallest kind; it contains small statues of Bhāgīrat'hī, Ganga, &c. and it is built over a piece of rock called Bhagirat'hī-Sitā, and is about 20 feet higher than the bed of the Ganges; and immediately above its right bank, there is also a rough wooden building at a short distance for the shelter of travellers. By the river's side, there is in some places soil where small cedars grow; but in general the margin is strewed with masses of rock, which fall from the precipices above. The falls do not appear recent. Too much tired to attempt to boil mercury in the tubes to day. At night, having prepared the instruments to take the immersion of one of Jupiter's satellites, we laid down to rest, but between 10 and 11 o'clock were awakened by the rocking of the ground, and, on running out, soon saw the effects of an earthquake, and the dreadful situation in which we were, pitched in the midst of masses of rock, some of them more than 100 feet in diameter, and which had fallen from the cliffs above us, and probably brought down by some former earthquake. The scene around us, shown in all its dangers by the bright moonlight, was indeed very awful. On the second shock, rocks were hurled in every direction from the peaks around to the bed of the river, with a hideous noise not to be described, and never to be forgotten. After the crash caused by the falls near us had ceased, we could still hear the terrible sounds of heavy falls in the more distant recesses of the mountains. We looked up with dismay at the cliffs over head, expecting that the next shock would detach some ruins from them. Had they fallen, we could not have escaped, as the fragments from the summit would have flown over our heads, and we should have been buried by those from the middle. Providentially there were no more shocks that night. This earthquake was smartly felt in all parts of the mountains, as well as in the plains of the north-west provinces of Hindustan. In the morning we removed to the left bank of the river, where there is a bed of sand of about 150 yards wide; there is a flat of soil with trees of about 20 yards wide, and immediately above it are precipices with snow on them; here we were much more secure. In the afternoon indeed, the effects of the snow melting, often caused pieces of rock to fall from above, too near our station, but we could avoid them by running over the sand to the river side, which could not be done on the right bank; besides only comparatively small pieces fell here, and in day light, so that this is much the best side to encamp on. We had the curiosity to measure trigonometrically the height of the cliff, at the foot of which we were during the shock, and found it to be 2745 feet. This day, the 27th, we had a slight shock of an earthquake, as well as on the 28th. Filled a new and full length clean tube with pure mercury; immediately after filling (unboiled), it stood at 20 inches. Thermometer attached Ditto detached. 78° 68° Having hung the barometer up in the tent, and allowed it to acquire the temperature of the air and adjusted zero, the following heights were observed: Thermometer attached.... Upper surface of the mercury.... 771° 63° 20 in. 20 mercury upper convex surface...... 20 hours after filling the tube; mean at 20 There were very few and but small (air) bubbles in the column, and the vacuum was evidently pretty good, as shown by the smart cracking of the mercury against the top of the tube. Water boils at. .... 196° We now begin to boil the mercury in the tube. The tube as usual broke. None but a professed artist can expect to succeed in this difficult business once in 10 times. With the unboiled mercury, there must be an error, but it should not, I think, affect the heights more than 200 feet, and generally not 100 feet; and as under the present circumstances we cannot do more, we .must be content with such approximate altitudes; and I reckon it of some consequence to have the heights of these places even within 200 feet, as hitherto no idea could be formed on the subject. When a tube is filled with unboiled mercury, which of course contains air, it stands at first higher than it ought from the air dilating the column; but, after a short time, much of the air escapes into the upper part of the tube, where the vacuum ought to be, and there expanding presses down the mercury in the tube, thus making it lower than it should be. The mean height will not differ much, perhaps not more than two-tenths of an inch in moderate heats from that shown by a boiled tube. The barometers I had were two out of six sent from England to the Surveyor-General's Office. They were made by Berge, and are very fine instruments; but so little attention had been paid to their packing, that the tubes of them all were found to be broken when they arrived in Calcutta, as well as most of the thermometers belonging to them. There were spare, but unfilled tubes sent with them, and some of these would not fit. Whenever barometers are sent, there should be to each at least six spare tubes filled in England by the maker, and herme tically sealed; and these should be carefully packed in separate cases of copper or wood lined with flannel, and the scale downwards should go to 13 inches. The scale of these barometers only reaches to 19 inches. In instruments intended for India, solidity should be considered; we want those which will do their work effectually, and are not anxious that they should be small and easily portable, as we can always here find means of carrying them. The mean height of the column by such observations as I thought most to be depended on is 20 in. 837′; the temperatures of the air and mercury being 73° and 65°. From which the height of Gangautri above the sea, is, calculated by M. Raymond's method. Dr. Hutton's method ... Feet. 10319-4 10306.6 Latitude observed May 27 and 28, 1817. By me, reflecting circle, alternate faces, mean by A and B. Libra.......... Large sextant by Berge. Lieut. Herbert, four sets ditto. By me, reflecting circle, eight circummeridional altitudes of spica, being 24 indexes, on alternate faces Mean latitude of Gangautri . . 30° 59' 29" 35.5 27.1 30.59.30.5 These were good observations, and refraction is allowed on the altitudes, according to the barometer and thermometer; and all other corrections for precession, aberration, nutation, &c. are applied as usual. The pole star could not be seen on account of the height of the cliffs, nor any star to the south lower than those observed. The same cause most unfortunately prevented our being able to observe any eclipses of Jupiter's satellites here, or the occultation of the star libra by the moon, and I was sorry to find that my chronometers could not be depended on to show the difference of longitude in time. Though they are of the best kind, and hung in gimbals, no method of carriage that I had then adopted could prevent them feeling the effects of the short and continually repeated jerks they received from the uneven steps which the man who carried them on his back was obliged to make. Nothing, except a staff, can be conveniently carried in the hands, as they are so frequently employed in assisting the feet in difficult places. The mean breadth of the Ganges at Gangotri was (measured by the chain) 43 feet, depth 18 inches, and nearly the same depth at the sides as in the middle: the current very swift, and over large rounded stones. This was on the 26th May; the stream was then in one channel, but the effect of the sun in melting the snow was at that season so powerful that it was daily much augmented; and on our return to Gangotri on the 2d of June, the depth of the main stream was two feet, and it was a few feet wider (but I did not then measure the width). Several shallow side channels had also been filled in the interval, and on the whole I estimate that the volume of water was doubled. Though the frequency of the earthquakes made us very anxious to get out of our dangerous situation in the bed of the river, we resolved, as we had come so far, to leave no means untried to trace the stream as far as possible, and accordingly set out on the morning of the 29th of May, hoping to arrive at the head of the river in the course of the day. The two Gangotri Brahmins could not give any information as to how far it might be distant; they had never been higher than Gangotrī, and assured us that no persons ever went further, except the Munshi, who appears by the account in the Asiatic Researches to have gone about two miles. Mr. James Frazer visited Gangotrī in 1815, and was the first European who did so. From Gangotri forward up the Ganges. Pass avalanche and fragments of rock newly fallen, and which cover the path. Ascend a snow bed which covers the river; it is about 30 feet thick. Here a Over the snow bed, and descend to the open stream. gorge of huge rocks obstructs the stream; they have all fallen from above. N.B. The Brahmins say they never heard of any rock or place called the Cow's Mouth, or Gao Muc'h, or any thing like it either in sound or signification. We did not see or hear of any image whatever. River flows under a snow bed; a rill of water from the snow to right. High precipices on both sides all the way. Alternate avalanches of snow and rock recently fallen. River under an avalanche of 500 feet thick; the snow hard and frozen. A great fall of the peaks. River bed filled with fallen rocks, and difficult to pass. The stream, a succession of cataracts. High peaks above. Över fragments. Here the river falls out of a snow bed in a cascade of foam: ascend the great snow bed. Strong ascent of the snow bed, which is about 100 feet thick, over the river. Cross a torrent six feet wide and nine inches deep; it comes from a cleft in the peaks to the left. River here under a snow bed. River turns the foot of high snowy peaks to the right; precipices quite perpendicular to the left. Rudra Himalaya peak, 97°. |