484 SURVEY OF THE GANGES. 



would be the only motives to induce one to have recourse to it ; and, after 



he had once satisfied the former^ he would not be desirous of a second 

 trial „ 



30th. About twelve o'clock last night, came on a very heavy shower 

 of rain, which continued, with little intermission, tiilihe morning, and ob- 

 liged us to halt. It was our intention, however, to have proceeded, had the 

 weather cleared towards noon sufficiently to dry our tents; but the people 

 complained much of the fatigue they had undergone yesterday, and most 

 of them had their legs terribly swollen, from the bite of a small inse<5l, 

 which we had found very troublesome for some days past. The exercise 

 had heated the blood, and. the parts stung broke out into festers, and 

 were extremely painful. The weather was cloudy, with partial showers, 



inquiries in this direction would not be productive of any advantages to be put into compe- 

 tition with the hazard and difRcuUics that were likely to be opposed; for every account 

 agreed, that the source of the river is more remote than the place called Gangantri^ which is 

 merely the point whence it issues from the Himalaya^ not as is related through a secret 

 passage or cavern bearing any similiiude to a cow's mouth, but its current is perceptible 

 beyond that place, although the access be so obstructed as to exclude all farther research. 



Sd. By prosecuting the journey for three or four days, and being then obliged to relia- 

 quish it, a delay would be occasioned, hy which the completion of my survey in another 

 quarter would be prevented, as the advanced period of the season would not admit of my 

 visiting the source of the /4/ccc«fl«rfa river at BhadrinaCh before the setting in of the peri- 

 odical rains ; and as this river contributes equally to the formation of the Ganges at its 

 junction with the Bhagiratlil river at Deoprar/ag ; it was no less an object of inquiry, and 

 barely within the compass of the time I had before me. 



4th. Jn the event of failure in this direction, all the purposes of the survey would be en- 

 tirely defeated ; and even admitting I^ had been so successful as to mark the course of the 

 stream as far as Gangautri, a distance not esceeding sixteen or eighteen miles in a horizontal 

 line, and found the appearance of the river such as had been represented, I could not have 

 furnished so satisfactory, or so complete a detail, as i bad reason to expect would be sup- 

 plied by a journey to Bhadrinatli. 



These arguments made me relinquish the attempt, and I hope and trust that the reasons as« 

 signed will appear to you sufficiently urgent to have caused ray decisionj and that ray present 

 plans are in every respect conformable to your wishes and instructions. 



To supply as well as possible the deficiency occasioned by my abandoning the tour, and 

 to ascertain satisfactorily the correctness ofthe accounts I had received j i dispatched an intel- 

 ligent native, furnished Vi-ilh a compass, and instructed in the use of it, with directions io 

 proceed to Gangautri^ and I am iji hopes \i% report will convey every necessary information, 



