to surround a considerable extent of mountains, insulating them completely; but this, being the relation of natives, is to be received with caution.

August 4th.-Thermometer at 7h. a. m. 57°. We were resolved to stay here to-day to recruit my strength, which stood much in need of it after frequent attacks of illness.

August 5th.-Thermometer 48°; leave Darchan or Gangri at 10h. 30'. At two thousand six hundred and seventy-five paces cross a stream which in five or six branches comes from the Cailás mountains and disembogues itself into the Ráwanhrad. At thirteen thousand two hundred and thirty-five paces reach the top; see a fine looking wild horse. Descend to five tents: a wild ass grazing close to us, and a prodigious flock of sheep and goats. The lake of Mánsarowar or Mupang now appears at the foot of a long declivity of pasture bounded by immense mountains towards the south, and having in front terraces of stone with the usual inscriptions, and a house inhabited by Gelums.

August 6th.-Halt on the bank of the lake Mánsarówar. Morning early, thermometer 479. This lake is considered as the most sacred of all the places of worship in the opinion of the Hindus, founded probably on the difficulty of access to it, not merely on account of its distance from Hindustan, and the ruggedness and dangers of the road, but from the necessity of every pilgrim carrying with him money and provisions, which latter he must occasionally eat without any preparation on account of scarcity of wood. Few Jógis can afford the expense of this journey; and I met with two on the road, who must have returned for want of funds if I had not borne their expenses. The name is derived from Mán* and sarówer, a Sanscrit word signifying a lake. The story upon which this appellation is founded is related at great length in the Sástra. Why it is called Mapang by the Unias or Chinese Tatars, I have not been able to learn but it is considered by them an act of religious piety and duty, that the nearest relation of a dead person should carry

* At full length Mánasa, divine; made by Brahme, named Manas, the mind, emphatically. C.

a portion of the ashes of the deceased, and empty them out of a small bag into the lake, as is practised at Hardwár,

Hindu geographers have derived the Ganges, the Satúdrá and the Kali or Gogra from this lake; and as I believe no Europeans ever before visited it, I was anxious to ascertain whether it really gave rise to the two last mentioned rivers or not. As to the former, it is quite clear from the observations made in this journey, coupled with those in the trip undertaken at the suggestion of the late Colonel Colebrooke by Messrs. Raper, Webb, and Hearsay, that the Ganges derives its supplies from the melted snow of the mountains of the Himalaya, and a thousand small streams, which fall into its various branches during their passage from these stupendous rocks to the great common mouth at Hardwár; and that it does not receive the smallest streamlet from their extreme northern face, nor from a source to the northward of them.

Harballabh, the old pundit, reported, that near the south-western corner, a river issued from it, which flowing in a westerly direction went along the Ráwanhrad, and escaping from its western extremity near the foot of the great mountain, formed the first branch of the Setlej. Yesterday evening I mounted upon a very high bank, and thought that I perceived distinctly the whole of the line of the shore, without seeing any outlet, with the exception of a space near the S. W. angle which a projecting rock concealed from my view. Determined not to leave this point in doubt, I took a fishing rod and gun, thinking that I should have time to amuse myself a little in one or other diversion and return by the evening. At about ten I began my march; and although very weak from the frequent attacks of fever to which I had lately been subject, I felt confidence that I should accomplish the object without any material degree of fatigue. As we were encamped about the middle of the northern side, I walked along the shore towards the west. The beach was formed of fragments of stones rounded, and thinned when of small size, by the continual action of the waves: but in some places great masses of red and green granite, marble, and lime stone had fallen from the face of the rock, which in many parts

was three hundred feet perpendicular. times with buck shot, few took effect, These stones, frequently washed by the from too great distance. These birds, surf and glazed by the sun, afforded a from the numbers I saw and the quantity very unsafe footing: however, at this time of their dung, appear to frequent this lake it required only care to prevent falling, in vast bodies, breed in the surrounding which would have endangered a limb, as rocks, and find an agreeable and safe asysome of the spaces betwixt the stones lum when the swell of the rivers of Hinwere very deep. The steep bank was dustan in the rains, and the inundation of here and there cut by profound and preci- the plains, conceal their usual food. pitous watercourses, now dry, but oc- Many aquatic eagles perched upon the casionally serving to convey the snow crags of rock; and several kinds of gulls water from the high tables upon the head skimmed along the skirts of the water. of the bank into the lake. The front of An unusually large body of great black the bank, at the height of from ten to gnats along the beach rendered walking thirty yards, had houses of loose stems troublesome, from their aiming to get into and wood built in recesses upon ledges; the nose, mouth, and eyes but, when but, as there were no stairs to them, I the wind lulled, which it did not for half thought them inaccessible to human beings, an hour, they flew along the surface of except by means of ladders, of which I the water, and became the prey of a kind saw none. They were inhabited, as I be- of trout without scales, which rose at held smoak issue from many, and are I them with extraordinary voracity, and presume the secluded retreats of monas. with which the water seemed to be litetic recluses of both sexes. One of these rally alive. I hoped by rounding the N.W. nuns accosted me by the name of Guni corner to have had sport by throwing Lama, and returning along with me, across the wind; but it then suddenly pointed to one of the rock habitations, chopped about, and a heavy surf beat upon which I concluded to belong to her, and the western shore. As the bank approachappeared by her gestures to invite me to ed this angle, it declined to gentle elevait. However I was so ungallant as to re- tions leading to interrupted table land, fuse the lady's hospitality: for I cannot and at its base was a large bay, from the suppose that she had any other motive bottom of which rose a pyramidical red for her civility than to offer me refresh- rock, connected with a line of ridge of ment or to ask charity, the disposition to high land to the higher flats to the north, which, the view of the inconveniences and steep towards the south. Upon this she was subjected to, by such a lodging, was the house of a Lama and many Gemight possibly excite. A weather-beat- lums, pitched in situations which produced en face, half stripped of its natural cover- a romantic effect, not a little heightened ing by the joint action of a hot suu and by streamers of various coloured cloth and cold wind, blistered lips, a long bushy hair, floating from high poles fixed on the beard, and mustachios, in a country where corners and roofs of the houses. Leaving the former is carefully plucked out, with this and diverting my steps to the south, a gait not of the firmest, had probably I went along the base of granite rocks raised emotions of pity, and induced her amongst such troublesome, rugged, and to think I might stand in need of repose. slippery stones, as had interrupted my Be it as it may, with the most cordial sa- progress in the outset, till I reached a lutation, and expression of thanks by dumb high, level, and firm bank, which sepa. show, I took my leave, and went on with rated the water of the lake from that my survey. which accumulated by the slope of the surrounding upland, directing the melted snow into it. At the end of this natural barrier, I saw a point of rock running into the lake, from the top of which I flat

After an hour's walk, the beach changed to a deep sand, in some places pure and in others mixed with pebbles. That on the water's edge was bordered by a line of wrack grass, mixed with the quills and feathers of the large grey wild goose, which in large flocks of old ones with young broods hastened into the lake at my approach; and though I fired several

From the known resort of the grey goose (the swan of Hindu poets) to this lake, the bird is called in poetic language Manasaucas, or he, whose abode is the Manasa lake. Am. Cosh, b. 2, c. v, v. 23. C.

tered myself I should have a prospect that would command the whole of the shore to the S.W. corner, and put an end to a task which I now found somewhat too much for the little strength I possessed; but I was severely disappointed, for on mounting a steep hill, of which the point in question formed the front to the lake, another large mountain intervened to prevent my view, with a deep valley between it and that which I had too hastily concluded would finish my labour. When I had reached the summit of this, another equally high presented itself. My servants were much fatigued for my own part, I was obliged frequently to lay down; and it was four o'clock when I reached a small religious pile, whence I got a fair sight of the shore I was so anxious to see, with the exception of a very small portion that was intercepted by the projection of a high bluff angle starting into the lake. Unable to proceed from the aching of my limbs and intense thirst, which I could not gratify, I sent a trusty harkárah to explore the angle which was concealed from my sight. The sky, which had frequently been overcast and disturbed with violent gusts of wind, now became clear, and sunshine illuminated the whole of the circumference of the lake, so as to enable me distinctly to define every portion of its shore close to the edge of the water, and up to the foot of the mountains, by which it is embayed, with the exception of the point to which I had directed the harkárah to proceed. There were numerous traces of watercourses leading into it, the most important of which was the Krishna sweeping down a ravine between two high mountains of the Himalaya range, and expanding like a sheet as it approached the verge of the lake; but not a break, nor any other appearance indicated the escape of any river or even of any small stream from it. Although this was clear enough to the naked eye, I employed a telescope; and this, as well as the evidence of two servants who gave me an account of what they saw, shewed that the Mansarowar sends out no rivers to the south, north, or west.

At half past four I began to return, and descended to the shore, which was a bed of round pebbles that had fallen from the side of the mountains. Large masses of

these stones embedded in a hard cement like old firm mortar, in some places obstructed the path, which apparently was more used by yaks than trodden by the feet of man. I was in hopes that I should be able to reach the N.W. corner before the fall of night, and by ascending the high table land that formed the summit of the northern bank, avoid the deep sand and dangerous stony beach which I had traversed in the morning. Walking upon a flat surface in some degree relieved the active aching and spasms of the thighs and legs brought on by great exertion in climbing and descending, but did not take away the soreness of the muscles. However, I laboured to the utmost extent of my power, but was much impeded in my progress by a strong wind, which poured into the lake with vast impetuosity from the west, and rendered breathing difficult. Since morning the wind had shifted four times, and had only been a little still for half an hour. In spite of all my endeavours I could not attain the granite rocks to the south of the Lama's house before night came on; and by another sudden change of the wind, the surf was thrown so high on the shore, as to efface all traces of the path, and leave scarcely room enough to pass between the face of the rock and the water. In a small recess we lay down for a few minutes; and as I had not seen the surface of the high land on the north, and the night was dark, I thought it on the whole more advisable to encounter the fatigue of wading through the deep sand, and the risk of injuring our legs and feet amongst the stones, than have the chance of falling over the precipice of the rock, or into any of the deep ravines by which its surface was broken. But there was another inconvenience, that was unforeseen and very annoying. The wind had put in motion the dry sand on the western extremity of the northern shore, and this rose into our eyes and al most blinded us. The servants, who were with me, had eaten nothing since the day before; I had only taken a cup of tea in the morning, and, though in health they were little less exhausted than myself. For my part, from the violent pain in my limbs and the singularly accelerated action of breathing, I was compelled to sit down every ten or fifteen minutes; and was in one of these halts overtaken

two feet deep. At twelve thousand one hundred and twenty-six paces encamp near seven or eight tents. The valley of Gangri is about twelve miles broad and near twenty-four long. At the eastern extremity is Mánsorawar: opposite is Ráwanhrad. The latter lake has always been represented as surrounding some large portions of rock a little detached from the great Himachal: however the view which I had of it completely destroys this idea. It consists of two legs, which are long, and not very broad; one leg runs eastward towards Mánsarowar, is straight, and ends in a point; the other goes to the south amongst the hills; and their divergence forms an angle almost directly opposite to the town of Gangri or Dertham. I think I saw a stream issue out of it at the western side of this angle, which probably com. municates with the many streams which form the Setlej: but this point I purposed to make out decidedly.