1848.J Journal of a trip through Kulu and Ldhul, fyc. 221 



stream was 100 feet broad, rapid, and strong and mid-thigh deep ; and 

 the crossing was effected with some difficulty. In the latter months of 

 July and August the Cherpa is not fordable except early in the morn- 

 ing, and the traders who reach its banks too late for fording are obliged 

 either to halt until the next morning, or to go round by the bridge, 

 which is 5 miles higher up the stream. 



The road from the Cherpa was alternately over stony plains, and 

 shingly slips from the rocks above. Just before approaching Godera 

 the plain is a succession of levels gradually becoming lower and narrow- 

 er in size, and showing clearly the extent of a former lake at different 

 periods, until the rocky obstacle, at a point about four miles below 

 Gadera, was burst through altogether and the lake completely drained. 

 The height of Gadera above the sea is 13,949 feet, which gives a fall 

 from the junction of the Cherpa river of 26 1 feet in a distance of 6£ 

 miles ; or just 40 feet per mile. At some former period it is clear that 

 the bed of the Yunam river must have been a long narrow lake, the 

 extent of which is shown in the map by a shade of brown confined 

 between dotted lines. 



The hills on each bank consist of hard siliceous rocks ; and the allu- 

 vial flats are formed of siliceous pebbles of all sizes strongly cemented 

 together. Along the banks of the river we observed numerous rude 

 pillars of this hard conglomerated gravel, which were generally crowned 

 by stones of different sizes. In the bed of the Chanu nullah, near 

 Godera, and on the northern bank, there are two of these remarkable 

 natural columns about 4 30 feet high, with their stone capitals ; one a very 

 large block, and the other a much smaller stone, which appears to be 

 balanced upon a point. These are the identical " insulated columns of 

 pebbly conglomerate," described by Moorcroft in A. D. 1820, "on the 

 summit of one of which," he says, " rested a block of stone many tons in 

 weight, and upon the top of the other stood a smaller block nearly on 

 a point." On my return I stopped at Godera for breakfast, when I 

 made the accompanying sketch of these remarkable pillars, (PI. XXIV.) 

 which prove both the extreme dryness of the climate and the minute 

 fidelity of Moorcroft' s descriptions. I fired a ball at the smaller stone, 

 which is not more than 2 feet thick and apparently balanced on a point, 

 but though the ball hit it right in the centre, the shock had no effect 

 whatever. In a moist climate these pillars would not stand for a single 



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