HINDO-OSTAN. 51 



they are constantly covered. They are the ancient Imaus, or Erao- 

 dus, a branch of Caucasus. In southern Hindoostan the mountains 

 called the Gauts (chough this word properly signifies a pass in a 

 mountain, and not a mountain) extend irom the river of Surat to 

 Cape Comorin. They are called the Ballaghaut, or upper Gauts, and 

 the Payenghaut, or lower Gauts. They are in many places a mile 

 and a quarter in height, overgrown with forests, and have their sum- 

 mits frequently covered with snow. At their termination, near Cape 

 •Comorin, they may be seen nine or ten leagues out at sea. 



Rivers, lakes. ...The Ganges (ganga or river, by way of eminence) 

 is not only the principal river of Hindoostan, but one of the noblest in 

 the world. It issues from Kentaisse, one of the vast mountains of Tibet, 

 and after a course of about 750 miles through mountainous regions lit- 

 tle known, enters Hindoostan at the defile of Kupele, supposed by the 

 natives to be its source. From hence this great river, which the Hin- 

 doos hold in religious veneration, believing that its waters have a vir- 

 tue which will purify them from every moral transgression, flows 

 through delightful plains, with a smooth navigable stream Irom one to 

 three miles wide, during the remainder of its course, which is about 

 1350 miles to the bay of Bengal, into which it falls by two large, and 

 a multitude of smaller channels, that form and intersect a large trian- 

 gular island, the base of which at the sea is near 200 miles in extent. 

 The whole navigable course of this river, from its entrance into the 

 plains of Hindoostan to the sea, and which, with its windings, ex- 

 tends, as has been observed, above thirteen hundred miles, is now pos- 

 sessed by the British, their allies and tributaries. The western branch, 

 called the Little Ganges, or river of Hoogly, is navigable for large 

 ships, and is generally resorted to. The Ganges receives eleven 

 rivers, some of which are equal to the Rhine, and none inferior to the 

 Thames. 



The Burrampooter, or Brahmapooter, that is, the son of Brahma, 

 is a river, the extent and importance of which was not ascertained till 

 the year 1765. It is superior to the Ganges both in length of course 

 and in size. It rises near the head of the latter river, in the moun- 

 tains of Tibet, on the opposite side of the same ridge, and takes its 

 course in a contrary direction, till it is 1200 miles distant from it, 

 having proceeded to within about 200 miles of Yunan, the most west-. 

 ern province of China, when it returns again, and joins the Ganges 

 near the sea. During the last 60 miles, before its junction with the* 

 Ganges, it forms a stream, which is regularly from four to five miles 

 wide. In Tibet it is called the Sanpoo, and when it joins the Ganges, 

 the Megna. 



The river Jumna is another considerable river in this part of Hin- 

 doostan : it rises in the mountains of Sirinagur, and pursuing a course 

 nearly parallel to that of the Ganges for 500 miles, falls into the lat- 

 ter river at Allahabad. 



The Indus, called by the natives Sindeh, is the boundary of India 

 to the west, and gives name to -the country. It derives its origin 

 from ten streams springing remote from each other out of the Per- 

 sian and Tartarian mountains, one of which originates in Cashmere. 

 In its course to the Indian Sea, it receives five great rivers, the Be- 

 hut, the ancient Hydaspes ; the Chunab or ancient Acesinas ; the 

 Rauvee or Hydraotes ; the Setlege or Hesudrus ; and a river on the 

 west, the ancient Hyphasis. Theso rivers form the Panjab, or the 

 "ountry of the five rivers. The Indus is likewise called the NilaU 



