TEMPLE OF GANGOUTRIE. 149 



sacred as the spot upon which Giinga used to wor- 

 ship Mahadeo) is a small unpretending square 

 pagoda, with melon-shaped roof, scarcely twelve 

 feet high, surrounded by a low wall of unhewn 

 stone. Although this insignificant-looking edifice 

 is scarcely to be seen until . the traveller comes 

 close upon it, he must not pass it by unheeded, for 

 he now stands before the celebrated temple of Gan- 

 goutrie, the holiest and most revered shrine of 

 Hindoo worship, and the supposed abode of the 

 goddess Gunga or Bhagiruttee, the Spirit of the 

 sacred Ganges. On entering the little court-yard, 

 that is paved with smooth stones taken from the bed 

 of the river, another small temple is seen, which is 

 dedicated to Byramjee. Both are said to have 

 been built by the Goorkha chief, Ummer Singh, 

 j\'hen he subdued this part of the country. 



Although, from its extreme inaccessibility, man 

 has done so little to mark a spot that is revered 

 and considered holy by more than a hundred 

 millions of his race, Nature has done much, and 

 the utter desolation and strangely stern wildness of 

 the place is worthy of the mysterious sanctity with 



