Читать книгу Views in India, chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains онлайн

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We have at present an extremely limited acquaintance with the passes which intersect the snowy mountains, and conduct the traveller from one to the other: those that are known, always lead over the lowest parts of the range, at an elevation varying from 15 to 16,000 feet; between steep ascents, several thousand feet higher. The European traveller is best acquainted with the Shatool or Rol passes, near the course of the Sutlej, and the Gonass, and Bruang passes, the last named near the Paber. The former are very difficult, many travellers intending to cross, having been prevented by the bitterness of the cold, and the numerous obstacles opposing themselves to farther progress. The Shattool pass is nearly equal in height to the summit of Mont Blanc, being about 15,400 feet above the level of the sea. It is flanked by an inaccessible peak two thousand feet higher; and though the entrance to the pass is by a very gradual ascent, it becomes exceedingly abrupt and difficult of access when approaching its greatest altitude. In descending, the natives wrap a blanket tightly round them, and slide down in a sitting posture thirty or forty feet at a time; and some English gentlemen, improving on this ​plan, seat themselves in a large, shallow, circular, brass basin, called a chillumchee, the common apparatus for washing the hands in India; and thus, protected from too rough encounters with the rugged sides of the steep, glide down the snow with indescribable rapidity.