SURVEY OF THE GANGES, 473 



observed a great number, who had large tumors in the neck called 

 goitre or wens, to which the inhabitants of mountainous countries, parti- 

 cularly those who live in the vicinity of snow, are very subject. Fluxions 

 and disorders in the eyes are also extremely common ; and, in these 

 months, the intermittent fevers are very prevalent. In this part of the 

 country, they appear to be not only destitute of medical aid, but totally 

 ignorant of any remedies to stop the progress of a disorder ; and we saw 

 repeated instances of people who had been laboring for years under the 

 efFe6ls of a complaint or wound, which was most probably very slight at 

 first, but, from want of proper care, had risen to an incurable height. 



23d. Marched to Di^wc/^; distance six and an half or seven miles. 

 Thermometer in the morning 54'''. After rounding a point of the moun- 

 tain, by an ascending path, we regained the bed of the river, and crossed 

 a rapid stream, which falls from the west into the Bhdgirat'hiy by a bridge 

 called Sdngha, which will be described hereafter. 



From hence, the passage of the road was too difficult to allow us leisure 

 to make any observations ; our attention being wholly taken up with our 

 own safety. Following the course of the river, and rounding the different 

 points of mountain, which mark and occasion the windings of the stream ; 

 the road was a continued li^ie of rise and fall, sometimes within fifty or 

 one hundred feet of the base, at others, mounting to the height of two or 

 three thousand above the level of the river. In some places, large jutting 

 points of rock formed a perpendicular ascent; in which, at the distance of 

 three or four feet, small steps had been worn by the passage of travellers. 

 In other places, the road ran along the scarp of the hill, where the foot- 

 path was at times trackless ; and when again visible, appearing only in a 

 dismembered state, the earth having crumbled, or been washed away by 



W 5 



