Samuel Bourne
1866
Curious formations on the Spiti river at Kioto, Spiti

Albumen print
Victoria and Albert Museum
Accession number: 53089
 
Curatorial description (Accessed: 26 September 2021)
This is one of the images of the Spiti river in India captured by the English photographer Samuel Bourne. From July to December 1866, he toured part of the Himalayan region. He wrote about his journey in The British Journal of Photography, outlining his route and in some cases describing the scenes he photographed.
 
He commented: 'The river here flowed over a broad gravelly bed in many little separate channels, and its banks, the height of which was some ninety or hundred feet, presented a strange appearance. The action of the rains had washed away the soft alluvial deposit, which apparently had once formed the bed of a lake, into innumerable pointed pillars, standing sometimes singly, sometimes in groups, some of them having large stones balanced on their narrow points, looking as though they would topple over at any moment.'
 
Bourne, S, A Photographic journey through the Higher Himalayas, The British Journal of Photography, December 31 1869, pg 629.
 
LL/114223