56 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
rathi River is held to be the main stream of the 
Ganges, and its sacred water flows from the 
* Gaumukh,” or Cow’s Mouth, a cavern of misty 
blue ice at the snout of a large glacier. 
Here in the hills the life and work of the forester - 
is different from that he has experienced in the 
plains. H% passes abruptly from the bamboo-covered 
slopes of the foot-hills,with their burning rocks, into 
the forests of long-leaved pine, thence into the 
shady, damp recesses of the cedar, spruce, and fir 
trees; he rejoices in seeing again old friends of the 
West, such as the yew, the horse-chestnut, and the 
maple, and the familiar fruit, such as strawberries, 
gooseberries, and currants, here growing wild ; and 
when he arrives at the forest limit, and looks back 
on the birch, the juniper, and the alpine-rose, and 
forward to the great flower -bedecked grasslands 
leading up to the eternal snows, he comes once more 
under the influence of the pure, keen air, and is 
happy to be free of the dust, of the noise, and of the 
clinging scents of the East. Not that he can do 
what he thinks he will be able to, judging by his 
first feelings of vigour and energy ; he will soon find, 
when the barometer marks in the neighbourhood 
of 17 inches, that severe gradients are trying, 
and that there are other inconveniences to be 
endured ; but, in spite of all, the changes in climate, 
in temperature, and in surroundings, are beneficial : 
they soothe the jaded nerves, and enable the relative 
importance of things to be better realized than when 
in the depression of sea-level on the plains. Our 
rulers acquiesce in these sentiments, as bear witness 
Simla, Naini Tal, Darjeeling, Pachmarhi, Ootaca- 
