296 x 237 mm. View looking along the steep sided valley, with a river running among the woods on the valley floor and the peak of Srikanta (21,449 ft and 9 miles WSW of Gangotri) in the distance. Bourne came across this valley just after crossing the Neela Pass, ‘I was going along enjoying once more the refreshing spectacle of grassy hills and foliage, when I suddenly came to the brow of a hill, which revealed before me one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen in the whole course of my travels. The valley below me suddenly became thickly wooded, presenting a mass of dense foliage for seven or eight miles, broken only by the gleaming course of the winding stream. On either side the mountains terminated in rocky precipices to which ivy and other creepers were clinging, while to crown all, as a fitting background to such a lovely scene, immediately beyond the Ganges rose the lofty Srikanta peaks, their white masses of snow contrasting beautifully with the dark, rich foliage of the other parts of the picture. What a scene for a painting! But it was not to be despised for the camera; and, as the sun was then in the wrong position, I at once called a halt so as to have the best light, which would be in the early morning ... The next morning dawned cloudless, though somewhat hazy, but I secured two negatives of this charming view, in which, however, the peaks being distant do not tell with the same effect as in nature, and I could not, unfortunately, use a longer focus lens, which would have nearly doubled their size, as I should thereby have spoiled the composition by cutting out the rocks on the side of the valley in the foreground. As it is, this forms one of the leading pictures of the series, on account of the great beauty of the subject’, (CB.J.P., 4 March 1870, p. 99 and18 March 1870, p. 125). Bourne no. 1535. Duplicate at Y3022I/56.