1038 Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. \_ No. 144. 



" At Jumnoutri the snow which covers and conceals the stream is 

 about 60 yards wide, and is bounded to the right and left by several 

 precipices of granite : it is 40 feet 5 J inches thick, and has fallen from 

 the heights above. The snow is very solid and hard frozen, but we 

 found means to descend through it to the Jumna by an exceedingly 

 steep and narrow dark hole made by the steam (of the springs,) and 

 witnessed a very extraordinary scene, for which I was indebted to the 

 earliness of the season, and unusual quantity of snow which has fallen 

 this year. When I got footing at the stream, (here only a large pace 

 wide,) it was some time before I could discern anything, on account 

 of the darkness of the place, made more so by the thick steam : but 

 having some white lights with me I fired them, and by their glare was 

 able to see and admire the curious domes of snow overhead : these are 

 caused by the hot steam melting the snow over it. Some of these ex- 

 cavations are very spacious, resembling vaulted roofs of marble ; and 

 the snow as it melts falls in showers, like heavy rain, to the stream, 

 which appears to owe its origin to these supplies. Having only a 

 short scaled thermometer with me, I could not ascertain the precise 

 heat of the spring, but it was too hot to bear the finger in for more 

 than two seconds, and must be near the boiling point." In a subse- 

 quent paper, Captain Hodgson states the temperature of one spring to 

 have been 194.°7 which, for the height of Jumnoutri, is very nearly the 

 boiling point of water. " The range of springs," he continues, "is very 

 extensive, but I could not visit them all, as the rest are in dark recesses 

 and snow caverns. The water of them rises with great ebullition 

 through crevices of the granite rock, and deposits a ferruginous sedi- 

 ment, of which I collected some : it is tasteless, and I did not perceive 

 any peculiar smell. Hot springs are frequent in the Himalaya, per- 

 haps they may be a provision of nature, to ensure a supply of water to 

 the heads of the River in the winter season, when the sun can have 

 little or no power in melting the snows in those deep defiles." Con- 

 stant references are made in Captain Hodgson's Journal to the frequent 

 recurrence of hot springs of considerable extent and high temperature 

 as spots in the upper portion of the course of the Jumna, and they 

 seem indeed to be distributed in remarkable profusion. 



In like manner, while exploring the course of the Ganges, Captain 

 Hodgson found hot springs of high temperature, although apparently not 

 so abundantly distributed as on the Jumna. Again to the Eastward at 

 Kedarnath and Buddreenath, numerous springs occur, while in Kuma- 

 on they are equally abundant. At the two first mentioned spots tra- 

 vellers have noticed various subterranean noises, as if gaseous matter 

 was escaping with violence. We are not acquainted with the physical 

 geography of the central Range of the Himalayas in prolongation to 

 the Eastward, but it is probable that the phenomena would there be 

 observed. To the westward again Mr. Moorcroft, Lieuts. Broome and 

 Cunningham have found many hot springs in the upper portions of the 

 courses of the Rivers of the Punjaub, so that their occurrence through- 

 out a large portion of the Himalayan chain is established by direct ob- 





