The Khasya nation pretend to be all Rajpoots of the highest caste, and very scrupulous in their eating and drinking. They will not even sell one of their little mountain-cows to a stranger, unless he will swear that he neither will kill it himself, nor transfer it to any body else in order to be killed: and as these cows give very little milk, and as their abhorrence of feathers leads the cottagers to keep no poultry, a stranger passing through their country, who cannot kill his own game, or who has not such a friend as Mr. Boulderson to do it for him, stands a bad chance of obtaining any supplies, except very coarse black bread and water, with perhaps a little honey. They are a modest, gentle, respectful people, honest in their dealings, and as remarkable for their love of truth as the Puharrees of Rajmahal and Boglipoor. As their language is different from that of Hindostan, I was anxious to know whether it resembled that of these other mountaineers, but found that a party who, on one occasion, accompanied Mr. Traill to Bengal were unintelligible to the southern Puharree. Indeed their real or pretended Rajpoot descent would, of itself, prove them to be a different race. Those who went with Mr. Traill, I learned from Mr. Boulderson, who was also of the party, took no notice whatever of the Rajmahal hills, even when passing over them. Mr. Boulderson said, " are you not pleased to see mountains again?" "What mountains?" was their reply. "These mountains, to be sure," returned he. They are not mountains, they are play-things," was their answer. 66 In MOUNT GAUGHUR. 193 comparison with their own they might, indeed, say so without affectation. November 25.-This morning we began to pack by four o'clock, but owing to the restiveness of the mules and the clumsiness of the people, divers accidents occurred, the most serious of which was the bursting of one of the petarrahs. At length we got off, and after coasting the lake for one mile, went for about thirteen more by a most steep and rugged road, over the neck of mount Gaughur, through a succession of glens, forests, and views of the most sublime and beautiful description. I never saw such prospects before, and had formed no adequate idea of such. My attention was completely strained, and my eyes filled with tears, every thing around was so wild and magnificent that man appeared as nothing, and I felt myself as if climbing the steps of the altar of God's great temple. The trees, as we advanced, were in a large proportion fir and cedar, but many were ilex, and to my surprise I still saw, even in these Alpine tracts, many venerable peepul-trees, on which the white monkeys were playing their gambols. A monkey is also found in these hills as large as a large dog, my guides are to be believed. Tygers used to be very common and mischievous, but since the English have frequented the country are scarce, and in comparison very shy. There are also many wolves and bears, and some chamois, two of which passed near us. My Sepoys wanted me to shoot one, and offered, with my leave, to do so themselves, if I did not like the walk which would be if VOL. II. 194 MOUNT GAUGHUR. necessary. But my people would not have eaten them. I myself was well supplied with provisions, and I did not wish to destroy an innocent animal merely for the sake of looking at it a little closer; I therefore told them it was not my custom to kill any thing which was not mischievous, and asked if they would stand by me if we saw a tyger or a bear. They promised eagerly not to fail me, and I do not think they would have broken their words. After winding up "A wild romantic chasm that slanted Down the steep hill, athwart a cedar cover, A savage place, as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath the waning moon was haunted we arrived at the gorge of the pass, in an indent between the two principal summits of mount Gaughur, near 8,600 feet above the sea. And now the snowy mountains, which had been so long eclipsed, opened on us in full magnificence. To describe a view of this kind is only lost labour, and I found it nearly impossible to take a sketch of it; such as I was able to make I, however, send with this packet. Nundidevi was immediately opposite; Kedar Nâth was not visible from our present situation, and Meru only seen as a very distant single peak. The eastern mountains, however, for which I have obtained no name, rose into great consequence, and were very glorious objects as we wound down the hill on the other side. The guides could only tell me that "they were a great way off, and bordered on the Chinese empire." They are, I suppose, in Thibet. Bhadrinâth is a famous place of pilgrimage for the Hindoos. The Khasya guide, however, said that the temple was considerably on this side the snow, which last none but the deotas had visited before the "Sahib Log," (Europeans,) came into the country. Mr. Traill has ascended a considerable way up it. Almorah, I was told, might be seen from hence; the hill on which it stands, they made me see, I believe, but I could not distinguish any houses. On mount Gaughur I found the first ice which I have come in contact with. The little streams on the northern side of the hill had all a thin crust on them: and the hoar frost, in one or two places, made the path so slippery, that I thought it best to dismount from the poney. Indeed, though the sun was already high, and I was warmly dressed, a walk down the hill to our halting-place at Ramghur, was by no means unpleasant. Ramghur is a very small and poor village, the first which I had seen in Kemaoon, seated by a fine rapid stream in a narrow winding valley, the sides of which, to a very great height, are cultivated in narrow terraces, with persevering and obstinate industry, though the soil is so stony that many of the little fields more resemble the deposit of a torrent than an arable piece of ground. The Company's warehouse and guard-house stand at a little height above the village; and the head man of the place came to meet me with some small trout, and, what to me were a great rarity, some young pota |