mr 
Head of the Ganges. 
the sun in melting the snow was at that season so powerful, that 
it was daily much augmented ; and, on our return to Gangotri 
on the 2d J une, the depth of the main stream was two feet, and 
it was a few feet wider, but I did not then measure the width ; 
several shallow side channels had also been filled in the interval, 
and, on the whole, I estimate that the volume of water was 
doubled. 
“ Though the frequency of the earthquakes made us very 
anxious to get out of our dangerous situation in the bed of the 
river, we resolved, as we had come so far, to leave no means 
untried to trace the stream as far as possible, and accordingly set 
out in the morning of the 29th of May, hoping to arrive at the 
head of the river in the course of tlie day. The two Gangotri 
Brahmins could not give us any information respecting its dis- 
tance ; they had never been higher than Gangotri, and assured 
us that no persons ever went further except the Munshi , who 
appears, by the account in the Asiatic Researches , to have gone 
about two miles. 
“ May 29- — Proceeded forward up the Ganges, over snow 
and rocks. The Brahmins never heard of any rock or place 
called the Cow’s Mouth, or Gao Much. Pitched on a sort of 
bank by the left margin of the river. 
“ This being the only convenient or safe place we could see, 
we halted here. The river is perceptibly diminished in bulk 
already, and we hope that to-morrow we may see its head. The 
march to-day was most toilsome and rough, through the loose frag- 
ments of rock which daily fall at this season from the peaks on 
either side of the river in the afternoon, when the sun melts the 
snow. Travellers should contrive to gain a safe place by noon, 
or they may be dashed to pieces. It was very cold at this 
place, and froze all night ; but we had plenty of firewood from 
the Bhojpatra trees. The soil was spungy, and full of rocks. 
The silence of the night was several times broken by the noise 
of the falling of distant avalanches. 
“ By the barometer it appeared we were 11,160 feet above 
the sea. 
“ A little tent, which one man carries on his back, came to 
us ; but in this trip we ate and slept on the ground, and were 
