4g6 AN ESSAY ON 



« runs westward : afterwards turning to the south, and south-east. The 



^ messenger, sent by Tieffenthaller, appears to have corroborated this 



' report ; though without intending it/* 



In conformity with this notion, maps, which have been since pubhshed 

 (as Arrowsmith's map of Asia in 1801, and of India in 1804- ;) continue 

 to represent the Ganges Within the chain of snowy mountains, flowing for 

 many hundred miles, according to the Lamas notion of its course, from 

 lake Mapama to Gangoulri, 



This appeared to Colonel Colebrooke, as to myself, to rest on very 

 slender foundations. ■ We thought it very improbable, that a stream less 

 th'du iha Alacanandd,2is the Bhdgirat'hi was represented to be, should 

 have its source, so much more remote than the larger stream: and that, 

 Hov/ing for many hundred miles, through a mountainous region, it should 

 receive no greater accessions from mountain torrents. It seemed very 

 extraordinary, that the missionaries Desideri and FREYRE,-f who visited 

 hadak, where they resided nearly two months, J and who travelled for 

 twenty-six days in the snowy mountains, from the ascent of mount Cantel^ 

 (fourteen days from Cdshmir,) to the town and fort of Ladak;^ and who 



* Memoir of aimap^ p. S70. 



"" f- tettres Edi£':^V.' 183. Nouv. Edit. xij. 434. 



$ From SjlIiJaiiCy to ntUAiigust, 1715, 



§ Le grand Thibet,' commence au haut d'une afFreuse montagne, toiite couverte de ncige, 

 Bomraee Kantel. Un cote de la montagne est du domiiiine de Kaschemire, V autre appartient 

 am Thibet. Nous etions pariis de Kaschemire, le 17 Mai de V annee 1715, et le 30, fete de T 

 'AsccHsion de Notre-Seigneur, nous gassame^ cette montagne, c' est-a-dire, qiis nous entrames 

 dans le Thibet. II etoit tombe quantite de neige sur le chemiu que nous devious teniv; ce 

 chemin, jusqu' a Leh, qu' on,npn>me autren^eat Ladali, qui est la forteresse ou reside le Roi, '' 

 se fait entre des raontagnes, quisontune vraie image de la tristesse, de V horreur, et de la 

 mort merae. EUes sont posees les unes suedes autres, et si contigues, qu-'a peine sont-elles' 

 sfiparees par des torrens, qui se pr^'cipitent avec irapctuosite du haut des montagnes, 

 et qui se brisent ayec taut de bruit contre les roojiejs, que les plus, intrepides voyageurs en 

 sonfetourdis et efFrayes. Le haut et le bas des montagnes sont egalement impraticables ; on 

 est oblige, de marcher a mi-c6te, et le chemin y eat d' ordinaire si ^troit, qu'a peine y trouve- 

 t'on assez d' espace pour poser ie piedj ilfautdonc marcher a pas comptes et avec uue extreme 



