OF THE RIVER SETLEJ. 3€5 



scent of some thousand feet to the river edge ; not a tree, shrub, or blade 

 of grass, even the rocks, appeared little capable of affording a point of 

 support, for they were loose and crumbly and seemed to require but a 

 touch to detach them. These difficulties continued for about a mile, after 

 which we were much relieved to find matters improve, for a short dis- 

 tance. The descent however gradually increased in steepness, leading 

 down the left bank of the Tomba glen, in which we had new difficulties 

 and dangers to contend with. To have a correct idea of these places it 

 must be borne in mind, that at this time we were proceeding along the de- 

 clivity of the great snowy range : so lofty a range, it may be supposed, can- 

 not rise from so low a level as the river has here, with the undeviating re- 

 gularity comprehended in the terms slope or declivity ; on the contrary it 

 is necessary to view the Himalaya mountains themselves, those eldest 

 born of creation, to estimate even approximately the gigantic scale on which 

 the furrows or ravines formed by the numerous torrents that spring from their 

 snows, intersect their sides. They indeed look to a spectator viewing them 

 from above, like "the dark unfathomed bottomless abyss ;" and it is not with- 

 out awe he resolves " to tempt them with wandering feet." 



Of all those glens that I have yet seen, this I think challenges compa- 

 rison, for its depth, the steepness of its sides, its total bareness, and the great 

 height to which the shattered peaks that crown it rise. From the lateral 

 ridge, where the immediate descent commences, to the stream, is a distance 

 of two miles and a quarter, of this a mile and a half presents no very great 

 difficulties though the path is bad enough, but the last three quarters of a mile 

 baffle description : at the first glance it seems impossible ever to reach the 

 bottom, such is the steepness of this precipice, for it can be called nothing 

 else; a winding path however, requiring the utmost caution in traversing it, 

 is at length discovered, and you go down a hard dry and steep terrace, sprink- 

 led as it were with loose fragments of clay slate of every size. To avoid 

 moving these is impossible; to shelter one's self is equally so, and the only 

 alternative for the people was to go in knots, with considerable intervals 



