Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.372

v3.c43.t1.372

The Whirlpools of the Chambal, December 3.—Having halted several days at Barolli to admire the works of man, we marched to contemplate the still more stupendous operations of nature—the Chulis, or ‘whirlpools,’ of the Chambal. For three miles we had to hew a path through the forest for our camels and horses; at the end of which, the sound of many waters gradually increased, until we stood on the bleak edge of the river’s rocky bed. Our little camp was pitched upon an elevated spot, commanding a view over one of the most striking objects of nature—a scene bold beyond the power of description. Behind us was a deep wood; in front, the abrupt precipices of the Patar; to the left, the river expanded into a lake of ample dimensions, fringed with trees, and a little onward to the right, the majestic and mighty Charmanvati, one of the sixteen sacred rivers of India, shrunk into such a narrow compass that even man might bestride it. From the tent, nothing seemed to disturb the unruffled surface of the lake, until we approached the point of outlet, and beheld the deep bed the river has excavated in the rock. This is the commencement of the falls. Proceeding along the margin, one rapid succeeds another, the gulf increasing in width, and the noise becoming more terrific, until you arrive at a spot where the stream is split into four distinct channels; and a little farther, an isolated rock appears, high over which the whitened spray ascends, the sunbeams playing on it. Here the separated channels, each terminating in a cascade, fall into an ample basin, and again unite their waters, boiling around the masses of black rock, which ever and anon peeps out and contrasts with the foaming surge rising from the whirlpools (chulis) beneath. From this huge cauldron the waters again divide into two branches, encircling and isolating the rock, on whose northern face they reunite, and form another fine fall [715].