The point to which Capt. Hodgson advanced, was within two miles and a half of one of the gigantic peaks, here seen, under an angle of elevation of nearly 33°, cased in snow from the base to the summit, and towering to the stupendous height of 8052 feet (upwards of a mile and a half) above the station.*

The highest peak in this part of the Himalayan range, appears to be Buddrinauth, which attains, according to Lieut. Herbert's survey, an elevation of 23,441 feet; and Kedarnauth peak, another summit of the same ridge, is only about 400 feet lower. Three still loftier peaks rise in the Jawahir district, about sixty miles to the south-eastward: the highest of the three is 25,749 feet above the level of the

Buddrinauth in 1807, amounted to between 45,000 and 50,000, many of them fakeers from the most remote parts of India.

This would seem to be the Mount Moira of the survey, rising to an elevation, according to Lieut. Herbert, of 22,792 feet. Among other names borne by this stupendous mountain, Mr. Fraser says, is that of Paunch-purbut (Five Peaks). These five are called Roodroo Himala (Mahadeo's seat), Burrum-poorec (Brahma's seat?), Bissen-pooree (Vishnoo's seat?), Oodgurree-kanta, and Soorguroonee. Two of these are evidently the Roodroo Himalah and Serga-ruen'r (or Swerga-rona) of the survey, forming part of the ridge separating the Jahnavi and Bhagirathi; a third is the Srikanta; another is a fourth (F) not named. On advancing beyond Gungotri, Capt. Hodgson came in sight of three majestic peaks, which he called St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew : on ascending further, a lower peak, between St. George and St. Patrick, became visible, to which he gave the name of St. David, and to the whole mountain, the name of the Four Saints. These four are at the head of the valley of snow, while Mount Moira stands like a giant to the right of the valley. "The Pyramid" of Lieut. Herbert's survey, at the head of the Bhagirathi, seems to be one of the Saints. But these peaks are not visible from Gungotri, and are therefore not reckoned among the Paunch Purbut; a name evidently taken from the appearance of the mountain at that place, till lately the ne plus ultra. All these peaks rise to an elevation ranging between 20,000 and 22,800 feet (the height of St. Patrick),

sea. "So far as our knowledge extends," remarks Lieut. Herbert, "this is the highest mountain in the world." It would accordingly seem to be the Nundidevi of Bishop Heber; "the kitchen of the god Nundi." To the north of Katmandoo, the snowy range again appears to attain a stupendous elevation ; and according to Colonel Crawfurd's observations, the peaks seen from that capital, are still loftier than those which tower above the sources of the Ganges. Among the most remarkable, are two a little to the eastward of N. from Katmandoo, one of which, pointed out as Mount Dhaibun, at a distance of thirty-five geographical miles, rose to an altitude of 20,140 feet above the station, or 24,740 feet above the sea. Three others were seen in a direction a little N. of E.; one nearly in the position of the Khala-bhairava, distant fifty-nine geographical miles, and 20,025 feet high (24,625 feet above the sea); a second, forty-eight miles distant, and 18,452 feet high; a third, sixtyeight miles distant, and 18,662 feet above Katmandoo.t

But we have not yet arrived at the highest point. Near the source of the Gunduk river, in Thibet, there is a remarkable peak distinguished by the name of the Dhawala-giri, the White Mountain, which, Mr. Colebrooke thinks, may safely be pronounced to exceed

* Heber, vol. ii. p. 209. As. Res. vol. xiv. p. 824.

† Asiat. Res., vol. xii. pp. 264, 276. We do not as yet know, from actual survey, the precise latitudes and longitudes of any peaks further to the S.E. than the parallel of 29° 50′ and long. 81°. The position of the more eastern peaks visible from Patna, Mongheer, and Boglipoor, remains to be verified. They are believed, however, to belong to the snowy range N. of Katmandoo, of which the mountain called Chamaleri is a part, situated in lat. 28° 5', long. 89° 18′, 200 miles from Rajmahal,-Asiat. Res., vol. xii. p. 255; xiv. 139.

26,862 feet above the sea. It is the Mont Blanc of the Himalaya.* At all events, this astonishing chain is now incontestably ascertained to comprise the loftiest range of elevations on the surface of the globe; Chimborazo, the highest summit of the Andes, not exceeding 21,470 feet above the sea, and being therefore more than 3000 feet, or, if Mr. Colebrooke be correct, 5000 feet below the loftiest peak of the Indian Olympus.

On crossing the Sutlej into the Punjaub, we enter the territory of the Seik Rajah of Lahore. This once fertile and populous region now contains, on à surface of nearly 70,000 square miles, a scattered population not exceeding, it is supposed, four millions of souls. The Seiks form at present friendly and peaceable neighbours, and serve as a barrier against the more turbulent Moslems of Afghanistan. It is in this

*"I may be allowed," says Mr. Colebrooke, "to express regret that the valley of the Gandhac river is yet unexplored. It is in that valley that ammonites are known to abound, and other ancient remains may be looked for. It is probably the route by which the Dhawalagiri, or White Mountain of the Himalaya, may be approached, and the altitude of apparently the highest mountain may be definitively determined. I still entertain the expectation, founded on measurements taken from remote stations, that its height will be found to be not less than 27,000 feet above the sea."-Trans. of Roy. Asiat. Soc. vol. i. p. 380. See also Asiat. Res. vol. xii. p. 276.

+ An insurrection, as it is termed, of the Afghaun Mussulmans of the Punjaub against the Seiks, broke out last year, which appears to have terminated, for the time, in the more complete establishment of the Maharajah's sovereignty from the Sutlej to Candahar. The most opposite statements, however, have ap⚫peared in the native papers. Moalavi Ismael and his partizans still keep the field, and, according to advices of last November (1827), had again advanced to Peishawer, and were ravaging that district. The war is carried on with all the rancour of a religious conflict. Runjeet Singh has a brigade of infantry under French officers, which is described as a remarkably fine and well disciplined

quarter, however, that British India can alone be considered as having a vulnerable frontier. Masters of the whole of the three coasts of India, of both shores of the Bay of Bengal, of the whole course of the Ganges and the Jumna, from their sources in the snowy range, which forms an impassable barrier towards Central Asia, and of the estuary of the Brahmapootra, the merchant-sovereigns of this immense empire of teeming millions may smile at the idea of foreign danger. The grand problem to be solved is, how long this vast estate of a joint-stock company, with its three colonial presidencies in one diocese, can be governed with advantage under the present complex and anomalous arrangement; or, in other words, in what way Great Britain may best discharge the momentous political trust consigned to her by the Supreme Disposer of Empires, upon her fidelity to which will depend the permanence of her Asiatic dominions.

body of men. The issue of the contest would seem to be as yet doubtful; but there is reason to hope, that the British Government will not be required to interpose between the belligerents, or be forced is yet to extend its ever-widening frontier to the Indus.