THE HEAD OF THE GANGES.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 208, 8 February 1875, Page 3

THE HEAD OF THE GANGES.

From a review in the Spectator of “ The Forest and the Field,” by the “ Old Shekairy,” we extract the following interesting account of a journey to the mysterious head of the Ganges : “ The expedition to the source of the Ganges was one of great interest, and at the same time, one of sufficient peril and hardship to ti'y the metal and endurance of old and experienced travellers. Providing themselves with provisions for two months, convoyed in waterproof kiltas (pottle-shaped baskets, lined with painted canvas and covered with leather), and carried by 32 coolies, the Shekarry and his friends, ‘ Fred ’ and the ‘ Doctor,’ started frera Rajpoor to begin their ascent of the mountains. Not disdaining sport by the way, but halting here and there for a few days near the haunts of different species of game, the travellers arrived in due course at Gangoutrie, the sacred shrine of Gunga, an insignificant little temple, perched upon a rock, amid scenery of wild grandeur which becomes yet more weird and awful as they advance towards the Boomeroo Purbut or Rudru Himaleh. From the Cow’s Mouth, a tunnel like cavern in the magnificent glacier which lies at the feet of the highest mountains, issues forth the Ganges, ‘ no insignificant sub-glacial stream,’ says ‘ the Old Shekarry,’ ‘ but already a swift-flowing river, about 50ft wide and 3ft deep.’ This Cow’s Mouth has generally been considered to be the source of the river, but in the opinion of ‘ the Old Shekarry,’ it takes its rise some nine miles higher up, in another and still more wonderful chasm, which the party did not reach without considerable difficulty, and where they were near losing their lives. Intensely occupied in the contemplation of the wonderful scene before them, the travellers failed to observe the approach of one o£ those terrific hurricances the full fury of which they could not by any chance have withstood. Recalled to a sense of their position by the terror of their Ghoorka attendants, they made haste to gain a small cleft or gully in the side of the mountain, where for two hours they remained in partial shelter, but exposed to a sharp, cutting blast, against which waterproof blankets were no protection, finely-powdered snow being driven against their faces so as to make them feel raw. while vivid streams of forked lightning almost blinded’them, peal upon peal of thunder rent the gorges, the ice cracked and rent, avalanches roared, landslips fell, and it seemed as if all the elements were at war. Very severe pains across the forehead and behind the eyes, giddiness, and oppression of breathing, were experienced by all the party, while the unfortunate natives, in whose case superstition added a thousand terrors to their already piteous condition, were almost dead from cold and fright. When a lull in the storm permitted further investigation of their surroundings, Fred and the Shekarry managed to discover a cavern impervious to the weather, and there, having I igh ted afi re,they arranged abivouac,refreshed themselves with hot food, and discovered by barometric observation that they had attained an altitude of 19,160 ft, or nearly 7000 ft above the terminal moraine at the Cow’s Mouth. Anxious as the travellers naturally were to accomplish the object with which they had started, and fully alive as they were to all the charms of perilous enterprise, prudence forbode their proceeding further, since they could scarcely see thirty yards before them, and the drifts of new fallen snow were dangerously soft and deep; besides, in their benumbed condition, to walk at all was ‘ heart-breaking work;’ they therefore turned their backs upon the head of the glacier, and set out to return to Deralles. We will let ‘ the Old Shekarry describe, in a few of his own words, the effects which such wonderful scenes must have upon almost every mind. He is speaking of what he faw before the storm began : “ ‘ Looking upwards, towards the head of the glacier, the prospect was sublime, for we appeared to be standing at the base of an enormous foaming cataract, far exceeding that of Niagara in grandeur, which had been instantaneously frozen. So strong, indeed, was this resemblance, that as we gazed, strange feelings of fear came over us, lest the Power that had fixed this mighty river in all its fury and turbulence should as suddenly break the spell, and allow it to overwhelm us. It was a scene which no mortal could contemplate and still disbelieve in the existence of God ; for the voice of nature there wasirrestibly powerful, and a mysterious influence would have incu’cated a natural religion, even in the mind of a savage, and impressed upon him a consciousness of the infinite supremacy of an all-ruling Power. On gazing upon the numerous peaks, that seem to pierce the heavens, one felt “ that there was speech in their dumbness.” ’ ”