Afternoon, outside of the tent, three hours after filling the tube: mean at 5 o'clock, 20, 7842...57°. "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. "We soon began 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 ten times. With this 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 very 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 hermetically 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 inches 837; the temperatures of the air and mercury being 73° and 65°. From which the height of Gangotri above the sea, calculated by M. Raymond's method, is..... By Dr. Hutton's method.. Latitude observed 27th and 28th May 1817: ....feet 10319-4 10306-6 Large Sextant, by Berge, Lieut. Herbert, four sets, ditto... ....... "These were good observations, and refraction is allowed on the altitudes, according to the barometer and thermometer; and all other corrections for precession, aberration, mutation, &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 2nd 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 in 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 Gangotri, 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 Gangotri in 1815, and was the first European who did so." The May 29th.-Proceeded forward up the Ganges, over snow and rocks. Brahmins never heard of any rock, or place called the Cow's Mouth, or Gao Muc'h. Pitched on a sort of bank formed by the left margin of the river. Our traveller's words are : "This being the only convenient or safe place we could see, we halted here. The river is perceptibly diminished in bulk already, and we hope that tomorrow we may see its head. The march to-day was most toilsome and rough, through the loose fragments of rock which daily fall at this season from the peaks on either side of the river in the afternoon, when the sun melts the snow. Travellers should contrive to gain a safe place by noon, or they may be dashed to pieces. It was very cold at this place, and froze all night: but we had plenty of firewood from the Bhojpatra trees. The soil was spongy and full of rocks. The silence of the night was several times broken by the noise of the falling of distant avalanches. "By the barometer it appeared we were 11,160 feet above the sea. Water boiled at 193° of Fahrenheit. "A little tent, which one man carries on his back, came to us; but in this trip we ate and slept on the ground, and were well pleased to have got so far beyond Gangotri, hitherto the boundary of research on the Ganges. "Latitude observed...............30° 58′ 59′′. " May 30th.-Proceeded onwards. Thermometer at sunrise 32°. Crossed a high avalanche of snow. Gradual ascent. This also being a route entirely new, we quote the traveller's own words: "Gradually ascending among rocks. To the left high cliffs of granite, but not so steep as before: to the right snowy peaks, their summits above 6 or 700 feet high, distant about two miles. The river-bed is here about two furlongs wide, and full of stones. River certainly diminished in size; it is very rapid, its bed being an ascent. We are now above the line of vegetation of trees, and past the last firs. The birches remain, but they are only large bushes; laurels are also seen, and a sort of, I believe, litchen (quere lichen?) which grows in the rocks. The noble three-peaked mountain shines in our front, and is the grandest and most splendid object the eye of man ever beheld. Ás no person knows these peaks or their names, we assume the privilege of naviga tors, and call them St. George, St. Patrick and St. Andrew. St. George bears 129; St. Patrick 132° 30. On going further, we saw another lower peak between St. George and St. Patrick, which we called St. David, and the mountain collectively the Four Saints." Halted near the débouche of the Ganges. Our author resumes: "This is an excellent and safe place, no peak can fall on us; five companies, or even a battalion, might encamp here. Sublime beyond description is the appearance of the snowy peaks now close to us. The Four Saints are at the head of the valley of snow, and a most magnificent peak, cased in snow and shining ice, stands like a giant to the right of the valley: this we named Mount Moira. The snow valley, which hides the river, appears of great extent. "We experienced considerable difficulty in breathing, and that peculiar sensation which is always felt at great elevations where there is any sort of herbage, though I never experienced the like on the naked snow-beds, even when higher. Mountaineers, who know nothing of the thinness of the air, attribute the faintness to the exhalation from noxious plants, and I believe they are right for a sickening effluvium was given out by them here, as well as on the heights under the snowy peaks, which I passed over last year above the Sutlej, though on the highest snow the faintness was not complained of, but only an inability to go far without stopping to take breath. : "Barometer. The tube heated, and then gradually filled with mercury, half an inch at a time, and the bubbles which were perceptibly driven out by gently beating against the places they were seen at. The mercury stood at...in. 18,854. Detached thermometer...... Attached do.......... Height of the place above the level of the sea, 12,914 feet. 55° 53 "Water boils at 1924°; which, according to Mr. Kirwan's table, answers to a barometer of 19 in. 5. "We are about 150 feet above the bed of the river. By day the sun is powerful, although we are so surrounded by snow; but the peaks reflect the rays. When the sun sunk behind the mountains, it was very cold; at night it froze. High as we are, the clouds yet rise higher. The colour of the sky is a deep blue. What soil there is, is spongy. A few birch bushes are yet seen; but a large and strong ground-tree or creeper overspreads the ground, somewhat in the manner of furze or brambles; and it is a curious fact that the wood of this is, we think, that of which the cases of black-lead pencils are made, being of a fine brittle, yet soft red grain; and the smell is the same as of that used for the pencils, and which has hitherto been called by us cedar. I have specimens of this wood; it is called, I think, Chandan: I saw it on the summit of the Chour peak, and in the snowy regions of Kunaur, but did not then examine it. It will be found, probably, that the Pinus Cedrus, or Cedar of Lebanon is the Deodar (or, as it is called to the westward, the Kailou), and no other. Nor do our mountain cedars (24 feet in circumference) yield in size or durability to those of Lebanon. But this Chandan (mis-called cedar) is not even a tree: it may be called a large creeper, growing in the manner of bushes, though it is very strong, and some of its arms are as thick as a man's thigh: of this, and also of the great cedar (Deodar), and of other pines, I will send specimens. Latitude. Lieut. Herbert, five observations, by Sextant, of Meridian Altitude, Pole Star, and ẞ minoris My observations, reflecting circle, reversed faces, M. Alt. Polaris....... 30° 56′ 37′′ 5"" 0 0 32 5 Mean...... 30 56 34 5 "All good Observations.-The particulars of them, as well as of all others, I have preserved." Our traveller resumes: "We had brought very few followers upwards from Gangotri, but here we sent 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 Gorka sepoys 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 mode for demons. We did not even see 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 8,052 feet above the station, one should reflect, that if even viewed from the plains of Hindoostan, at angles of elevation of one, and one and a half degrees, these peaks, towering over many intermediate ranges of mountains, inspire the mind with ideas of their 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 and horizontal distance of only two miles and three-quarters." May 31st.-Started forward from last halting place, and reached a most wonderful scene, thus described: "The Bhagirathi, 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 débouche, 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 Mahádéva'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 débouche. The height of the arch of snow is only sufficient to let a 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 nine or ten inches; however, call the mean depth 15 inches. Believing this to be (as I have every reason to suppose it is) the first appearance of the famous and true Ganges in day light, we 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." Proceeded to ascend up an inclined bed of snow, till it became perilous to go farther. We quote again the author's words: "Ascent of the same kind, general acclivity seven, 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 sank 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 cheerily 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 rugged, 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 1 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. St. George..130° 45′ alt. 17° 49' "Inclination of the snow-bed about 7°, what appears the highest part of snow-bed, ahead 155° Altitude 7°. "No time to take more ...... Paces. Deg. 509 144 1,427 155 "And here we were obliged to return! Had it been possible to have got across the chasms in the snow, we should 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 were 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 on 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 possible expedition, it was only by two hours and a half hard labor 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." (To be continued.) |