•:S20 SURVEY OF THE GANGES. 



another, and supported below by a scaffolding of wood. Although for- 

 midable in appearance, the path was tolerably secure ; and, by all ac-- 

 counts, infinitely preferable to the one formerly pursued, which was 

 higher lip the mountain. This road has been :newly made by the Gur-^ 

 €'hdlis ; and considerable labor has been bestowed, in bringing it even to 

 its present passable state. In a quarter of an hour we came upon the bed 

 <xf the river, covered with large stones, whence we reascended on the 

 t)ank, and proceeding, over a very indifferent road, for fifteen minutes 

 more, we arrived at a flight of steps, raised on a Chahutra, to the height 

 of thirty feet. In the centre of it, was a broad ladder, fifty or sixty feet 

 long, resting on a projecting point of rock. The materials were strong 

 and good ; but the crowds af people, who were passing up and down, 

 made the scaffolding shake ; and some of the rounds having given way, 

 rendered the passage more difficult. The roaring noise of the water, 

 together with the buzz and tumult of the crowd, added not a little to the 

 unpleasantness of the situation ; and the progress upwards was so slow, 

 thata person had full leisure to attend to the suggestions of danger, 

 which a rocky precipice of ninety or a hundred feet, v/ould naturally 

 create, under such circumstances. Having reached the ledge, which 

 was in some places not above a foot in breadth, we continued a short 

 ascent, by steps, whence we began to descend; and, in ten minutes, 

 regained the regular path on the slope, 



::■ These are called the Chorl Dhar and Cauda Dhar Ghats, well known 

 to all travellers on this road. We had heard accounts of them several 

 days before our arrival, and were prepared to encounter their difficulties-. 

 At 10-40 A. M. we halted for seven niinutes, apposite to the Co'ihand Jfddi, 

 which falls into the Alacanandd on the other side. From hence the 



