JUMNA AND BHA'CniATW RIVERS. 195 



By one of thefe we were at laft compelled to mount, and fcrambled 

 up through a thickly tangled wood of fore if trees, dwarf bamboos 

 and creepersj frequently beholden to the roots and branches for our 

 foo'ing, till we reached the point of a fteep crag, on which is placed a 

 fmall temple, facred ro Bhairamji'. The place is faid to be halfway 

 from the village, and Bhairamji' is underflood to be the avant courier 

 of 7w7?jw^, and it is his duty to announce thofe who come to worfhip 

 her. His temple merely conlifts of a few loofe ftones, and is not three 

 feet high. There is no image ; but it contains a number of pieces of 

 iron, with one, two, or more fharp points, fome twilled and fome 

 plain J a fmall brafs canopy hung in the center ; a fmall lamp and bell 

 of the fame metal, which is rung during worfhip. Here the officiating 

 brahmin faid a long prayer with fome fervency, ringing the bell and 

 offering flowers, (which where alfo prefented by the attendants) thus 

 propitiating the deity towards the Grangers. The place is curioufly 

 chofen — very wild and gloomy. 



The defcent to the river from hence is more dangerous than even 

 the afcent, leading in fome places along the face of the rock, where the 

 want of natural footing is remedied by laying flicks along upon the 

 roots of trees, or pins driven into the fifTures of the flone. When we 

 reached the river bed again, the laborioufnefs and difficulty of pro- 

 ceeding was greater than below ; the water was more confined and the 

 defcent quicker; the current more ftrong and the cafcades more fre- 

 quentand greater in heighth ; while, in conflantly croffing and re-croffing^ 

 the water, its cold (having jufl left the ice) was fo intenfe, as nearly to 

 benumb the joints. We foon reached the fpor, pointed out from be- 

 low as Jumnotri, but it was not the facred branch ; here two flreams 

 join-'jd the Jumna^ and the recks are more open than below. From 

 hence, though completely at the foot of this higher region of the moun- 

 tain, the peaks of fnow are feen towering above us, as ready to over* 



