ARTICLE II.

Extracts from the "Journal of a Survey to explore the Sources of the Rivers Ganges and Jumna." By Capt. J. A. Hodgson, 10th Reg. Native Infantry.

(Concluded from p. 52.)

A sharp peak across the river; call it the pyramid. Height above the 20,966 feet.

A rock on the great snowy bed, over which we are to pass, proved to be distant 9044 feet, and its height above this place 984 feet, the angle of elevation being 6° 15', which is the general inclination of the snow bed; as our progress was continued far beyond this rock, it will easily be imagined that the crest or summit of the bed, then distant five or more miles by estimation, must have considerable elevation.

We had brought very few followers onwards from Gangotri, but here we sent back every one we could possibly dispense with, that our small stock of grain might subsist the remainder, who were a few trusty fellows (Mussulmans), two Gorc'ha Sipāhis, and a few Coolies, for two days, or three, if possible, in the event of our being able to get over the snow in front. And I sent orders to the people at Gangotri to leave grain there if they had any to spare, and if they did not hear of any supply coming from Reital, to make the best of their way back till they met it, and then to halt for us, and send some on to us.

Having made all the arrangements we could on the important head of supplies, and made observations, we had leisure to admire the very singular scenery around us, of which it is impossible to give an adequate description.

The dazzling brilliancy of the snow was rendered more striking by its contrast with the dark blue colour of the sky, which is caused by the thinness of the air; and at night, the stars shone with a lustre which they have not in a denser atmosphere. It was curious too to see them, when rising, appear like one sudden flash, as they emerged from behind the bright snowy summits close to us, and their disappearance, when setting behind the peaks, was as sudden as we generally observed it to be in their occultations by the moon.

We were surrounded by gigantic peaks entirely cased in snow, and almost beyond the regions of animal and vegetable life, and an awful silence prevailed, except when broken by the thundering peals of falling avalanches. Nothing met our eyes resembling the scenery in the haunts of men; by moonlight, all appeared cold, wild, and stupendous, and a Pagan might aptly imagine the place a fit abode for demons. We did not see even

bears, or musk deer, or eagles, or any living creature, except some small birds.

To form an idea of the imposing appearance of a snowy peak, as seen here under an angle of elevation of nearly 33°, and when its distance is not quite three miles, and yet its height is 8052 feet above the station, one should reflect that if even when viewed from the plains of Hindustan, at angles of elevation of one, and one and a half degree, these peaks towering over many intermediate ranges of mountains, inspire the mind with ideas of the grandeur, even at so great a distance: how much more must they do so when their whole bulk, cased in snow from the base to the summit, at once fills the eye. It falls to the lot of few to contemplate so magnificent an object as a snow clad peak rising to the height of upwards of a mile and a half, at the short horizontal distance of only 2 miles.

May 31.-Along, and above the right bank of the river, rocks and snow.

Descent to the bed of the river, enclosed by rocks.

A most wonderful scene. The B'hagirat'hi or Ganges issues from under a very low arch at the foot of the grand snow bed. The river is here bounded to the right and left by high snow and rocks; but in front over the debouche, the mass of snow is perfectly perpendicular, and from the bed of the stream to the summit, we estimate the thickness at little less than 300 feet of solid frozen snow, probably the accumulation of ages; it is in layers of some feet thick, each seemingly the remains of a fall of a separate year. From the brow of this curious wall of snow, and immediately above the outlet of the stream, large and hoary icicles depend; they are formed by the freezing of the melted snow water of the top of the bed, for in the middle of the day, the sun is powerful, and the water produced by its action falls over this place in cascade, but is frozen at night. The Gangotri Brahmin who came with us, and who is only an illiterate mountaineer, observed, that he thought these icicles must be Mahādēva's hair, from whence, as he understood it is written in the Shastra, the Ganges flows. I mention this, thinking it a good idea, but the man had never heard of such a place as actually existing, nor had he, or any other person to his knowledge, ever been here. In modern times they may not, but Hindus of research may formerly have been here, and if so, I cannot think of any place to which they might more aptly give the name of a Cow's Mouth than to this extraordinary Debouche. The height of the arch of snow is only sufficient to let the stream flow under it. Blocks of snow were falling about us, so there was little time to do more here than to measure the size of the stream. Measured by a chain, the mean breadth was 27 feet. The greatest depth at that place being knee deep, or 18 inches, but more generally a foot deep, and rather less just at the edges, say 9 or 10 inches; however, call the mean depth 15 inches. Believ

ing this to be (as I have every reason to suppose it is) the first appearance of the famous and true Ganges in day-light, saluted her with a bugle march, and proceeded (having to turn a little back to gain an oblique path) to the top of the snow bed; having ascended it to the left.

Pretty strong ascent up to the inclined bed of snow. This vast collection of snow is about 1 mile in width, filling up the whole space between the feet of the peaks to the right and left: we can see its surface forward to the extent of four or five miles, or more, to where it is bounded on the left by the feet of the Four Saints, and to the right by snow spurs from other mountains beyond Mount Moira. These last spurs rather overtop the feet of the Saints, and to them, and to the place where we judge there is a ridge, is all ascent over snow.

Ascent of the same kind; generally, acclivity 70, but we pass over small hollows in the snow, caused by its irregular subsiding. A very dangerous place; the snow stuck full of rubbish, and rocks imbedded in it. Many rents in the snow appear to have been recently made, their sides shrinking and falling in. A man sunk into the snow, and was got out not without some delay. The bed of the Ganges is to the right, but quite concealed by the snow.

In high hope of getting on to what may be at the top of the acclivity, we have come on cheerly over the hollow and treacherous compound of snow and rubbish, but now with bitter regret, we both agree that to go on is impossible. The sun is melting the snow on all sides, and its surface will not bear us any longer. I have sunk up to my neck as well as others. The surface is more and more ragged, and broken into chasms, rifts, and ravines, of snow with steep sides. Ponds of water form in the bottoms of these, and the large and deep pools at the bottoms of the snow hollows, and which were in the earlier part of the day frozen, are now liquid. It is evident from the falling in of the sides of the rents in the snow, that there are hollows below, and that we stand on a treacherous foundation. It is one o'clock, and the scene full of anxiety and awe. The avalanches fall from Mount Moira with the noise of thunder, and we fear our unsteady support may be shaken by the shocks, and that we may sink with it. And here we were obliged to return! Had it been possible to have got across the chasms in the snow, we would have made every exertion, so anxious were we to get forward; but onward, their sides were so steep, and they appeared of such great depth, that I do not think it would be possible to pass them (this year at least), even if the snow was not as at this hour soft, and the bottoms of the chasms filling with water. Be that as it may, they are now utterly impassable. At this season snow must fall here whenever it rains below, so that it does not acquire such hardness at the top as it does on the avalanches we have hitherto passed, where no new snow at present falls. We now set out on

our return, and not too soon, as we found; for the snow was so soft, and the increase of the water so great, that though we went with the utmost expedition, it was only by 24 hours' hard labour of wading and floundering in the snow, and scrambling among rocks, where they would give a footing, that we reached the turf, tired and bruised with falls, and the skin taken off from our faces and hands by the sun and drying wind of these elevated regions.

It now remains to give some account of this bed or valley of snow, which gives rise to the Ganges. It appears that we passed up it, somewhat more than a mile and a half. From our last station, we could see onwards as we estimated about five miles to where there seemed to be a crest or ridge of considerable elevation, though low when compared with the great peak which flanked it. The general slope of the surface of the snow valley was 7°, which was the angle of elevation of the crest, while that of the peak of St. George, one of those which flanked it to the left, was 17° 49'. In the space we had passed over the snow bed, the Ganges was not to be seen; it was concealed probably many hundred feet below the surface. We had a fair view onward, and there was no sign of the river; and I am firmly convinced that its first appearance in day is at the debouche I have described. Perhaps indeed some of those various chasms and rents in the snow bed which intersect it in all sort of irregular directions, may occasionally let in the light on some part of the bed of the stream, but the general line and direction of it could only be guessed at, as it is altogether here far below the broken snowy surface. The breadth of the snow valley or bed is about a mile and a half, and its length may be six and a half miles, or seven miles from the debouche of the river to the summit of the slope, which terminated our view: as to the depth of the snow, it is impossible to form a correct judgment, but it must be very great. It may easily be imagined that a large supply of water is furnished at this season by the melting of this vast mass in the valley, as well as by the melting of that of the great peaks which bound it. From their bases torrents rush, which, cutting their way under snow, tend to the centre of the valley, and form the young Ganges, which is further augmented by the waters which filter through the rents of the snow bed itself. In this manner, all the Himalaya rivers, whose heads I have visited and passed over, are formed; they all issue in a full stream from under thick beds of snow, and differ from the Ganges in as much as their streams are less, and so are their parent snows. On our return down the snow valley, we passed nearer to its north side than in going up, and saw a very considerable torrent cutting under it from the peaks; this was making its way to the centre: at times we saw it through rents in the snow, and at others only heard its noise. As there must be several more such feeders, they will be fully sufficient to form such a stream, as we observed the

Ganges to be at the debouche in the space of six or seven miles. I am fully satisfied that if we could have gone further that we should not have again seen the river, and that its appearance at Mahādēva's hair, or whatever we may choose to call it, was the real and first debouche of the B'hāgiratt'hī. All I regret is that we could not go to the ridge to see what was beyond it. I suspect there must be a descent, but over long and impassable wastes of snow, and not in such a direction as would lead direct to any plains, as the course to bring one to such plains would be to the north-east or north, whereas the line of the river's course, or rather of the ridge in front, was to the south-east, parallel to the run of the Himalaya, which is generally from SE to NW. Immediately in front of the ridge, no peaks were seen, but on its south-east flank, and at the distance of about 18 miles, a large snowy peak appeared, so that I think there can be no plain within a considerable distance of the south-east side of the ridge: if there be streams from its other side, they must flow to the south-east. After all, I do not know how we should have existed, if we had been able to go to the ridge, for we could not have arrived there before night; and to pass the night on these extensive snows, without firewood or shelter, would have cost some of us our lives, but of that we did not then consider much (if we could have gone, we would). We had only a few trusty men with us, and a short allowance of grain for them, for this and the following day, and had sent orders to the people left at Gangotri to make their way back towards Reital, leaving us what grain could be spared, and to forward what they might meet, as I expected some from Reital, from whence we were supplied during our absence from it of altogether 28 days. I cannot suppose that by this way, there can be any practicable or useful pass to the Tartarian districts, or doubtless the people would have found it out, and used it, as they do that up the course of the Jahnavi. While I give it as my opinion, that under any circumstances the crossing of the ridge must be difficult, I would by no means wish to be understood to assert that I think it impossible under more favourable circumstances, and in a year when less snow has fallen than in the present; but I seriously declare, that situated as we were, it was not possible for us to go further than we did, and that it was with great difficulty we got back.

It is now to be considered, if the supplies of water produced as above described, are sufficient to form a stream of 27 feet wide, and 15 inches (mean depth) at the debouche. It has been stated that at Gangotri, the breadth of the river on the 20th of May was 43 feet, and its depth 18 inches. The distance thence to the debouche was 22,620 paces, which I reckon about 11 British miles. In that space, it received some supplies, as mentioned in the notes, but they were not abundant. Thus the quantity of water is diminished nearly one half; but it is to be