* Figure for eight perhaps a cypher. + Boundary of Tibet and China Proper. See Diary of a Cashmerian journeying on the route thus far in our Researches. Khám extends from Sángwá or 51st stage to this point. These and the next two noted are crossings of one mountain-locked river, not separate rivers. The fourteen of stage 121 is another instance of the same kind. No. of stages. REMARKS.-The above paper, like that which accompanies it, is deserving of implicit reliance, from the circumstances under which it In the fifth column of the original, the names of the passes (langúr in Khas and lá in Tibetan) are not given. I have, however, set SECTION XI. ROUTE FROM KÁTHMÁNDÚ, THE CAPITAL OF NÉPÁL, TO DARJEELING IN SIKIM, INTERSPERSED WITH REMARKS ON THE PEOPLE AND First Stage to Choukót, East, 7 kós. * PROCEEDING vid Mángal, which is within a quarter of a mile of the city, we came to Nangsál, at the like distance from Mángal. Both are petty suburban Néwár villages. Thence to Deopátan, distance three-quarters of a kós, a large pakka village inhabited by Néwárs. Thence to Thémi, one and a quarter kós. Thémi is a considerable pakka town of Néwárs, and is famous for its pottery. Thence to Bhátgáon, distant one kós. Bhátgáon is a large handsome Néwár town situated near the Eastern end of the valley of Népál, and is said to contain 12,000 houses. Its palace, temples, and tanks are very striking structures. Thence to Sángá, two kós. This bridge-like place stands on a low ridge separating the great valley of Népál Proper from the subordinate valley of Banépa. It is a small place, but the houses are all pakka, as usual with the Néwárs. * Pakka here means built of burnt bricks. This word and its correlative kachcha are most convenient terms, for which I know no English equivalents. + The valley of Népál is about sixteen miles in either diameter, of shape between oval and lozenge, cultivated throughout, and yields two crops per annum, a spring one of wheat and an autumn one of rice. It is very densely peopled with a population of probably 350,000 souls, distributed in three principal and many subordinate towns, all of burnt brick and tiled roof, in the tent style of architecture so prevalent in China. Equidistant from snows and plains, elevation 4500. Centrally placed with reference to the length (E. and W.) and breadth (N. and S.) of the kingdom. For its people see on to p. 196 infra. Compare note at exordium of vol. on Buddhism, and separate paper therein on Sambu Puran, (Essays I., 115), notices of Valley and Tersi of Nepalya Kallyana in Benga's A. S. Journal. Thence to Banépa, one kós. Banépa is a small pakka town inhabited by Néwárs, and situated in the vale of the same name. Thence to Khanarpú, one kós. It is a nice little Néwár village, situated near the point where the dales of Banépa and Panouti blend with each other. Thence to Choukót, a quarter kós, ascending a low ridge and quitting the level country thus far traversed, and all of which is highly cultivated, yielding autumn crops of rice and spring ones of wheat. 2nd Stage to Kálápáni, East, 6 kós. Ascend the large ridge of Batásia and come to the mountain village of Phúlbári, which is somewhat less than one kós from Kálápáni. Thence along the ridge two and a quarter kós to Syámpáti, another small village of Parbattias. Thence to Saláncho, one kós. Saláncho is a third small hill village, and it overlooks the glen of Káshi Khand on the left. Thence to Kánpúr, a Parbattia village, close to which is the halting-place, at a tank called Kálápáni, distant from Mithya Kót one and a quarter kós. 3rd Stage to Thángá-jhóli, South-East, 6 kós. This stage runs along the same ridge of Batásia. But it is here called Ténnál. Half a kós to the hill village of Bhoatia, and another half a kós to that of Gimti, both inhabited by Múrmis. Thence half a kós to Pokri, another similar village of Múrmis. Thence to Cháp Khár, about three-quarters of a kós, a fourth Múrmi village. Thence to Gárchá, another hamlet of Múrmis, distant from the last rather less than two kós: a quarter kós more brings one to the descent into the Biási or vale of Dúmja, on the banks of the Rósi and Sún Cósi. The Biasi is low, hot, and malarious, but fertile in rice, triangular in shape, and about a mile in greatest width. The Bar, Pipal, Sémal, and Khair trees grow here, and large Dhanéses (Buceros Homrai) are seen eating the fruit of the Pipal. The Sún Cósi at Dúmja flows freely over a wide bed of sand, and is about * * The occurrence of the Indian figs, cotton-tree, and acacia, so far within the mountains, shows that the Biásis, wherever situated, have a tropical climate. See on. |