284 A)i Account of Gurlnual, [Sess. 



Even in a calm day it requires some nerve to cross such a 

 bridge. In a windy day, when the two ropes swing back- 

 wards and forwards with the breeze, it is something terrible 

 to have to cross. The traveller, to ensu.re his safety, may 

 try to lay hold of the main ropes with his hands ; but this is 

 only possible, or, at all events, only easy, in part of the 

 journey. The two ropes, close to either bank, are too high 

 above his head for his arms to reach them, and in the middle 

 they are too low down — too close to his feet. In the better 

 form of jhula there are four cables instead of two, the upper 

 ropes being used as guiding-ropes, the lower to support the 

 roadway. The ropes are frequently made of a grass named 

 Andropogon involutus, but other materials are sometimes used. 

 A second way of crossing rivers is in a basket called a chinka. 

 One single cable is stretched across the river, and a basket is 

 suspended from it. The traveller gets into the basket, and a 

 man on the opposite bank hauls him across by pulling a 

 string or thin rope attached to the basket. The basket, of 

 course, runs along the cable. A third way of crossing rivers 

 is by a bridge called a sanga. On each bank a series of 

 planks are put, — one above the other, — each projecting a little 

 beyond the one below it, till the two series nearly meet in the 

 middle of the river, and then a single plank is thrown across 

 to unite them. The ends of the projecting planks are fixed 

 in stone piers, built on each side of the river. Usually the 

 sanga is two or three planks wide, and sometimes it has a 

 railing on each side. Cattle and sheep can cross it much more 

 easily than they can cross a rope-bridge. The fourth kind 

 of bridge is a tree, or a single plank, laid across a stream. 

 Nothing surprised me so much as to see the fearless way 

 with which the people of Gurhwal — men, women, and children 

 — crossed these bridges. Of course many accidents occur, 

 but nobody seems to think anything about the danger. 



The inhabitants are not divided into many castes, like the 

 people of the plains. In Gurhwal, there are only three 

 castes — (1.) The Brahmins, who alone can be priests in the 

 temples, and who also have got possession of all the Govern- 

 ment posts. They are the local judges, magistrates, doctors, 

 schoolmasters, and postmasters. (2.) The agriculturists, who call 

 themselves Bishts, and who are called by Europeans Rajpoots. 



