176

SECTION XI

ROUTE FROM KÁTHMÁNDÚ, THE CAPITAL OF NÉPÁL,
TO DARJEELING IN SIKIM,

INTERSPERSED WITH REMARKS ON THE PEOPLE AND
COUNTRY.

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. Bhatgaon 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 kóз. 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 popu lation of probably 350,000 souls, distributed in three priucipal 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 1., 115), notices of Valley and Terai 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, 61⁄2 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.

forty yards broad and one foot deep. This river, if the Milanchi be regarded as its remotest feeder, arises from the eastern side of Gosain-thán, the great snowy peak overlooking the valley of Népál, and is the first of the "seven Cósi" (sapt Cósi) of the Népálese. Others contend that the true Sún Cósi is that which arises at Kálingchok, east of Kúti.* There are several upper feeders of the Sún Cósi, which form a delta of perhaps thirty kós either way, between Malanchi, Kálingchok, and Dallálghát, where the feeders are all united. From Dúmja, which lies a little below Dallálghát, proceed along the right bank of the River Sún Cósi to Jhángá-jhóli, by the rugged glen of the river two kós, the road impeded by huge masses of rock lying half in the water.

4th Stage to Sitalpáti, East, 4 kós.

Leaving the river on the left, you ascend the ridge of Sidhak and travel along its side, far from the top, to the village of Dharma, inhabited by Múrmis. It is one and a half kós from Jhángá-jhóli. Thence half a kós to Jhámpar, a village of Múrmis. Thence descending again to the bed of the Sún Cósi, you proceed along the right bank for one kós to Chyanpúrphédi, or the base of the Cháyanpúr range. Thence an ascent of one kós to the top of Cháyanpúr, where stands the Powa or small Dharamsala of Sítalpáti, the halting-place, and which is close to the village of Choupúr.

5th Stage to Liáng, East, 6 kós.

Two kós along the heights of Cháyanpúr bring you to the confluence of the Támba Cósi and Sún Cósi, where the united. rivers, of nearly equal size before their junction, are passed at Séliaghát, a little below the Sangam or junction. The Tamba Cósi, or second Cósi of the Népálese, has its course at the base of Phallák, a Himálayan peak situated some ten kós perhaps east of the Kúti Pass, which is on the great eastern highroad from Kathmándú to Lhása. From Séliaghát the road makes a rapid ascent of one kós to the high level or plateau of Gumounia, one kós along which conducts you to Bhalaiyo, which is

VOI II.

• See annexed Memorandum and Sketch Map.

N

only another name for the same plateau. From Bhalaiyo-dánra, one kós to Bétáini village, still along the plateau. Thence one kós along the same high level to the halting-place or Liángliáng, which is a large village well inhabited chiefly by Néwárs. Some Parbattias also dwell there, and there is plenty of cultivation and water on the flat top of this low ridge, which is neither mountain nor plain.* The rice, called "touli" by the Néwárs, grows well, and wheat and generally all the field and garden produce of the valley of Népál.

6th Stage to Narkatia, South-East, 4 kós.

One and a half kós along the plateau of Liáng-liáng, you come to Bhirpáni, having the Dápacha and Manthali glens on the left, by which there is another road, used chiefly in the cold season. Thence at half a kós you descend slightly to Wádi Khóla, a small hill stream, and passing it make the great ascent of Hiliapáni and reach Lámágáon after one kós of climbing. Close to the village of Lámágáon is another called Sálú, inhabited by Parbattias.+ Thence one kós to the Likhú Khóla, a slight descent. Thence a small ascent to Bhálú-dánra, or the Bear's Ridge, half a kós along, which brings it to the village of Nigália or Narkatia, the halting-place. The Likhú Khóla is the third Cósi of the Népálese. It is a large unfordable river, which is crossed by a bridge, but is smaller than the Sún Cósi or Támba Cósi. It comes nearly due south from the snows at Kháli Múngali, and forms one of the seven chief feeders of the great Cósi.

7th Stage to Bájbisoúnia, East, 3 kós.

Still along the Bear's Ridge a quarter kós to a small village of Lachia, and another half a kós to the village of Chúplú. Thence quit the ridge, and by a slight descent reach Phédi Khóla, at one and a quarter kós. Phédi Khóla is a small feeder of the Molang. Pass the stream, and ascending slightly

See note at stage the ninth.

+ For tribes of Nénál, see Journal for December 1847.