"the other is called Sutroodra, (or, in the Puránas, "Shutudru, and vulgarly the Sutluje,) which flows into the Punjaub country; and two days journey "weft from the Maun Surwur is the large town of "Teree Ládac, the former Rajahs of which were "Hindus, but have now become Mahommedans. "The inhabitants there are like unto the Thibetians. "Proceeding from Ládac, feven days journey to the "fouthward, there is a mountain called Cailafa Cungri, "(Cungur meaning a peak,) which is exceedingly "lofty; and on its fummit there is a Bhowjputr or "Bhoorjputr tree, from the root of which fprouts or "gufhes a fmall ftream, which the people fay is the "fource of the Ganges, and that it comes from Vaicont'"ha, or heaven, as is alfo related in the Puránas; "although this fource appears to the fight to flow "from the fpot where grows this Bhowjputr tree, "which is at an afcent of fome miles; and yet above "this there is a ftill loftier fummit, whither no one goes but I have heard that on that uppermost 66 pinnacle there is a fountain or cavity, to which a Jagui fomehow penetrated; who, having immerfed "his little finger in it, it became petrified. At four days journey from Cailafa Cungri is a mountain "called Brahmadanda, or BRAH'MA's staff, in which "is the fource of the Aliknundra Ganga: and five "or fix days journey to the fouth of that are fi"tuated on the mountains the temples dedicated to CEDARA, or KEDARNAUTH and BUDRANAUTH; and "from thefe hills flow the ftreams called the Kedar "Ganga and Sheo Ganga; the confluxes of which, as "well as of the Aliknundra, with the main ftream of "the Ganges, take place near Kernpraug and Deopraug, in the vicinity of Serinagur; whence they "flow on in a united stream, which iffues into the 66 plains of Hindustan at the Hurdewar."

66

66

66

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XVII. PRAUN POORY went back from this part of the country into Nepaul and Thibet, from the capital

pital of which he was charged by the administration there with difpatches to the Governor General, Mr. HASTINGS, which he mentions to have delivered in the presence of Mr. BARWELL, and of the late Meffrs. BOGLE and ELLIOTT; after which our traveller was fent to Benares with introductory letters to Rajah CHEYT SING and to Mr. GRAHAM, who was at that time the refident; and fome years afterwards Mr. HASTINGS bestowed on him in jaghire, the village of Alfapoor, which he continues to hold as a free tenure; though he is still fo fond of travelling, that he annually makes short excurfions into different parts of India, and occafionally as far as Nepaul.

XVIII. The name of the other Hindu Fakeer, or Bráhmechary, (whofe picture reclining, in his ordinary pofition, on his bed of iron spikes, accompanies this,) is PERKASAN UND; and he affumes the title or epithet of PURRUM SOATUNTRE, which implies felf-poffeffion or independence; and as his own relation of his mode of life is not very long, I deliver an English translation of it, as received from him in Auguft, 1792; only obferving that the Jowalla Mookhi, which he mentions to have vifited, is not the one on the Cafpian, but another; for there are at the leaft three famous places known to the Hindus under this general denomination; one near to Naugercote, another (whither PRAUN POORY Went) in the vicinity of Bakee, and the third (as I have been informed by Lieut. WILFORD) at Corcoor, to the eaft ward of the Tigris; but whether it be the first or last of these Jowalla Mookhis that PERKASAN UND Vifited, his narrative is not fufficiently clear to enable me to diftinguish; neither are his general knowledge and intelligence at all equal to PRAUN POORY's, which may account for his obfervation as to the difficulty of reaching the Maun Surwur Lake, whither not only PRAUN POORY, but other Fakeers, that I have seen at Benares, profess to have nevertheless penetrated; fo that my prefent notice of PERKASAN UND

to

to the Society, is principally on account of the strange penance he has thought fit to devote himself to, in fixing himself on his fer-feja, or bed of spikes, where he conftantly day and night remains; and, to add to what he confiders as the merit of this ftate of mortification, in the hot weather he has often burning around him logs of wood; and in the cold season, water falling on his head from a perforated pot, placed in a frame at fome height above him; and yet he seems contented, and to enjoy good health and spirits. Neither do the fpikes appear to be in any material degree diftreffing to him, although he ufes not the defence of even ordinary cloathing to cover his body as a protection against them but as the drawing exhibits an exact likeness as well of his perfon as of this bed of feeming torture, I fhall not here trouble the Society with any further description of either, and conclude by mentioning, that he is now living at Benares, on a small provifion that he enjoys from government.

:

P. S. Had my official occupations, whilft at Benares, admitted of my paying due attention to PRAUN POORY's narrative of his travels, the geographical information they contain, or rather point to, as to the fource of the Ganges, Jumna, and other principal rivers, might have probably admitted of a fuller illuftration, and greater degree of accuracy, from a farther examination of that Sunyay, aided by the important affiftance which I might in that cafe have obtained on this part of the fubject from Lieutenant WILFORD, who has, through his own unwearied exertions, and chiefly at his own expence, collected a variety of valuable materials relative to the geography of the north of India; at the fame time that, by a zealous application to the study of Hindu literature, joined to an intimate acquaintance with whatever the Greeks and Romans have left us, on their mythology, or concerning the general events of former ages, as far as their

knowledge

knowledge of the world extended, this gentleman is likely to throw much light on the earlier periods of the hiftory of mankind.

Tranflation of the Relation delivered by PURRUM SOATUNTRE PURKASAN UND BREHMCHARY of his Travels and Life; delivered on the 14th of August, 1792.

I

AM a Bráhmen of the Yujerveda fect, and of the line of Prásher. My ancestors are from the Punjaub. They had a long time ago come to vifit at Jaggernauth, and had reached and were abiding at Gopegawn, where I was born. When I was only ten years, of age, I used to give myself up to meditation and mortification, lying upon thorns and pebbles; a mode of life I had continued for ten years, when it was interrupted by my relations, who wanted me to think of marriage; whereupon, having attained to twenty years of age, I left my home, determined to devote myself to travelling. Firft, after coming out of my house, I went towards Ootrakhund, by way of Nepaul and Bhote. I went into the country of the Great and Little Lama, where the TEESHOO LAMA lives. In this tract is the Maun Talaee, (i. e. tank or lake,) as far as which is inhabited, but not beyond it; and the lake called Maun Surwur is feventeen munzels, or days' journey, farther on, in a jungly country, which prevents accefs to it. There are in this quarter the places known under the denominations of Muni, Mahesho, Mahadeo, and of Teloke, Nauthjee, and the Debbees, or cookingplaces, of Nownauth; and of the eighty-four Sidhs, or religious perfons, thus diftinguifhed; all fituated on this fide of the Maun Surwur. Into thefe Debbees, if one throw in either two loaves, or as many as are wanted; one in the name of the Sidh, and another in one's own name; that in the name of the Sidh remains at the bottom, and that in one's own name rises up baked. These places I vifited. At the Maun Talace the boundaries of four countries meet, viz. that of China, of the Lama's country, of the Befeher country, and that of the Cooloo country. D

VOL. V.

Proceeding