238 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. The for- 
mation is gneiss, intersected with beds of granite, and 
no volcanic matter whatever is found, though several 
travellers have discovered perfect ammonites (not sal- 
gram stones) in the neighbourhood of the hot springs; 
they are common at the height of ten thousand feet. 
The village of Jumnoutri is on the banks of the river, 
close to a number of these springs, and is considered a 
spot of remarkable sanctity ; Hindoos who perform the 
pilgrimage from the low countries being themselves 
almost deified after the adventure. The temples are 
insignificant. From this place the river becomes some- 
what more important, and gathering force at every val- 
ley, dashes down its precipitous channel, leading a 
most zig-zag course, until it unites its waters with the 
Tansa ; whence, rolling down a vast volume of water, it 
soon bursts upon the plain of the Dhoon, on the bor- 
ders of the great forest, where the Emperor Shah 
Jehan, about two hundred years ago, built a magnifi- 
cent sporting residence, for the purpose of pursuing 
the wild elephants, tigers, and the whole world of ferce 
nature, who here find hiding places. 
The great cone is more than twenty-one thousand 
feet in height above the level of the sea ; in the ra- 
vines upon its sides are the springs which, accumu- 
lating at one point, form the river Tansa, one of the 
largest streams within the mountains, and celebrated 
for its magnificent falls, one of which is one hundred 
and eighty feet perpendicular, without interruption, so 
