JUMNAUTRI.

THE Jumna has its source (in lat. 30° 59′ 10′′) on the S.W. side of the grand Himalaya range; 66 differing in this respect from the Ganges, which has the upper part of its course within the Himalaya, flowing from the S. of E. to the N. of W." The mountain in which Jumnâtri is situated, is distinguished by three very grand and lofty snowy peaks, rising to an elevation of between 20,000 and 21,000 feet.* It is called by the natives Bunderpouch (monkey's tail), in allusion to an absurd legend connected with a supposed lake situated between the snowy peaks, at a height perfectly inaccessible, in which Hunooman is fabled to have quenched his burning tail.+ The spot which obtains the name of Jumnâtri, “is, in fact, very little below the place where the various small streams formed on the mountain brow, by the melting of many masses of snow, unite in one, and fall into a basin below. To this basin there is no access; for, immediately above this spot, the rocks again close over the stream, and, though not so lofty as those below, interpose a complete bar to further progress in the bed of the torrent. Between the two banks, the view is closed by the breast of the mountain, which is of vivid green from perpetual moisture, and is furrowed by time and the torrents into numberless ravines: down these ravines are seen trickling the numerous sources of the Jumna. Above this green bank, rugged, bare, and dark

*The loftiest peak, situated in lat. 31° 1′ 21′′, long. 78° 33′ 32′′, has an elevation of 21,155 feet. It forms a conspicuous object from Seharun poor.

+ If any weight could attach to the tradition, one would be led to conclude, that the lake or tank supposed to be contained in the hollow between the peaks of this mountain, must be a volcanic

erater.

rocky cliffs arise; and the deep calm beds and cliffs of snow, towering above all, finish the picture. Noble rocks of varied hues and forms, crowned with luxuriant dark foliage, and the stream foaming from rock to rock, form a foreground not unworthy of it. At the place where it is customary to perform ablution, the rock on the north-east side of the river is very steep. It is apparently quartzose; the structure also is laminous ; and from between these lamina, run several streams of warm water, forming together a considerable quantity. There are several other sources; and one in particular, from which springs a column of considerable size, is situated in the bed of the river, between two large stones, and over it falls a stream of the river water. This water is much hotter than that already noticed : the hand cannot bear to be kept a moment in it, and it emits much vapour.* I could not detect the least acidity by the taste, nor any sulphurous smell: it was exceedingly pure, transparent, and tasteless. A great quantity of red crust, apparently deposited by the water, and seemingly formed of an iron oxide and some gritty earth, covered all the stones around and under the stream. This, on exposure to the air, hardened into a perfect but very porous stone; while, below the water, it was frequently mixed with a slimy substance, of a dull yellowish colour, somewhat like isinglass; certainly a production of the water, for it covered the stones over which the water ran.

"The violence and inequality of the stream frequently change the bed of the river. Formerly, it lay on the side opposite to this rock, and the numerous

"The temperature of the water where it issues from the rock, is 194.7°, which, in that elevation, is nearly the heat at which water is converted into steam."-Asiat. Res., xii. p. 327.

sources of this warm water were then very perceptible, many of them springing from the rock and gravel to some height in the air; but several of these are now lost in the present course of the stream. These warm springs are of great sanctity; and the spot for bathing is at the point before mentioned, where one of a considerable size rises in a pool of the cold river water, and renders it milk-warm. This jet is both heard and seen, as it plays far under the surface of the pool.'

Capt. Hodgson, who visited Jumnautri in April 1817, gives a somewhat different description of the appearance which it presented at that season. The stream was at that time covered and concealed by a bed of snow which had fallen from the precipices above, about sixty yards wide and forty feet in thickness, bounded on each side by mural precipices of granite; while in front, at the distance of about five hundred yards, part of the base of the mountain rose abruptly, cased in snow and ice, and shutting up the head of the defile in which the river originates. The snow was very solid and hard frozen, but the Writer found means to descend to the bed of the river, by an exceedingly steep, narrow, and dark hole, formed through the snow by the steam of the boiling springs beneath. Here, he witnessed a very extraordinary scene. "When I got footing at the stream," he says, "here only a large pace (three feet) wide, it was some time before I could discern anything, on account of the darkness of the place,-made more so by the thick steam; but, having some white lights with me, I fired them, and, by their glare, was able to see and admire the curious domes of snow overhead: these are caused by the hot steam melting the snow over it. Some of these excavations are very spacious, resembling

* Fraser, pp. 428, 9.

vaulted roofs of marble; and the snow, as it melts, falls in showers, like heavy rain, to the stream, which appears to owe its origin in a great measure to these supplies. The spring was too hot to bear the finger in for more than two seconds, and must be near the boiling point. Rice boiled in it, but imperfectly. The range of springs is very extensive, but I could not visit them all, as the rest are in dark recesses and snow caverns. The water rises up with great ebullition, through crevices of the granite rock, and deposits a ferruginous sediment it is tasteless, and I did not perceive any peculiar smell." *

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The Jumna is very soon joined by a stream of nearly equal size, called by Mr. Fraser the Oontagunga, flowing from the Doomun-kundee; and at the village of Paria, it receives the Birain or Bheem-kegadh, very little inferior in size. Some of the deep, stony glens which disgorge their waters into the Jumna, in the early part of its course, are gloomy, wild, and rugged beyond description. The glen called Palià Gadh, is believed to be impenetrable; and superstition has heightened its natural horrors, by peopling it with dewtas or spirits who inveigle the young and beautiful to their wild abodes. †

From Jumnautri, Mr. Fraser proceeded by a difficult and lofty route, over a shoulder of Bundurpouch, to

Asiat. Res., vol. xiv. pp. 147, 8. The hot springs which are frequent in the Himalaya, may perhaps be, the Writer suggests, "a provision of nature to ensure a supply of water to the heads of the rivers in the winter season, when the sun can have little or no power of melting the snow in these deep defiles."

† A survey of the course of the Jumna, from its junction with the Tonse in the Doon, to its source, by Captain Hodgson, will be found in vol. xiv. of the Asiatic Researches, pp. 129-152.

GUNGAUTRI,

THE Source of the most sacred branch of the Ganges, where Mahadeo sits enthroned amid everlasting snows. Nothing that he had hitherto seen in the mountains and glens bordering on the Jumna, or in those of the Sutlej, equalled in savage ruggedness and wildness the desert banks of the Bhagirüttee. The confluence of this stream with the Jahnevi or Jahni-ganga, at a place called Bhairo-ghati (or Bhyram-ghauttee) presents a scene truly awful and terrific. "Both these rivers run in chasms, the depth, narrowness, and rugged wildness of which it is impossible to describe.* Between them is thrust a lofty crag like a wedge, equal in height and savage aspect to those that on either side tower above the torrents. Immediately above the junction, an old and crazy wooden bridge is thrown across the Bhagiruttee, from one rock to the other, many feet above the stream; and there we see it in a state of dirty foam, twisting violently and with mighty noise, through the curiously hollowed trough of solid granite, cutting it into the strangest shapes, and leaping in fearful waves over every obstacle. From hence, the gigantic features of the mountains may frequently be seen, overhanging the deep black glen; their brown splintered crags hardly differing in colour from the blasted pines which start from their fissures and crevices, or even from the dark foliage of those which yet live.

"Nowhere in my travels in these rude mountains," says Capt. Hodgson," have 1 seen any thing to be compared with this in horror and extravagance." From the smoothness of the rocks which confine the stream, and which appear to have been worn so by water, he thinks that the river must formerly have flowed on a higher level, and that it is gradually scooping its channel deeper."