These indefatigable Travellers made several attempts to penetrate into the Chinese territories, by the Húkëo pass * above the Sumdo river; by the Shipkee route, leading to Gárú; and by the Charang-lama pass; but were uniformly turned back by the Tatars at the first Chinese stations. They subsequently traversed the Spiti district in different directions. This is a territory situated between Chinese Tatary, Ladak, Kooloo, and Bischur (Basehar); and pays tribute to each. "The inhabitants are all Tatars, and follow the Lama religion. There are lead mines. The villages are from 12,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. Towards Ladak, the habitations must be still more elevated, the country barren, and the climate inhospitable." Yet, these Travellers felt regret at bidding farewell to the serenity of a Tataric sky and the charms of even that arid country, when they prepared to descend, with the Sutlej, to the moist and burning plains of Hindostan.

The point at which this most interesting survey terminates, in the district of Bischur, connects it with the journey of Mr. Fraser, who had advanced as far as the capital of that territory, when he was summoned to accompany his brother into the province of Gurwal. Here, therefore, we shall endeavour to give, in as compressed a form as possible, the substance of the information he has furnished respecting this mountainous district.

Rampore, the capital of Bischur, situated, according

the table land of mountains. Accordingly, it does appear, that, in the exterior chain of the Himalaya, where heat is reflected to it but from one side, the warmth is much less than in the interior cluster, where there is reverberation from all quarters."-Ib. p. 379.

* On the elevated land between Húkëo and Zinchin (16.200 feet high), ammonites were picked up," which, if not precisely in situ, had probably not come from a remote situation."

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to Captain Gerard, in lat. 31° 27′, long. 77° 88', stands on the left bank of the Sutlej, 3300 feet above the sea.* The spot is said to be hot and unhealthy in summer, and as cold in winter. The houses are of stone and slated, and some are very neat. "It was once," Mr. Fraser says, a flourishing place, the entrepôt for the merchandize brought by the traders of Hindostan, and for the produce of Cashmeer, Ladak, Bootan, Kashgar, Yarcund, &c. In the days of its prosperity, it may have contained three or four hundred houses and a large bazar, well filled with the commodities of these various countries. For this commerce, the passage of the river Sutlej through the hills forms a convenient channel; and the road, which is now difficult, might be much improved, without incurring any extravagant expense. There is no ghaut practicable for the conveyance of merchandize, between that at Buddrinauth and this at Rampore. This circumstance gave to Rampore its im portance, and made it to the westward, what Sreenugger was to the eastward, a depôt and mart for the products of the above-mentioned countries. Much was told us of the splendour of the late Rajah and his court, and of the former opulence of the place. The struggle with the Ghoorkalese first impoverished the country; and the finishing stroke was put to the destruction of the capital, by the sudden invasion of a Ghoorkalese force. At this time, by far the greater proportion of the houses were in ruins, and the rest very thinly inhabited. The bazar contained only the booths of a few poor bunyas, miserably supplied, and

* Under the town, a rope bridge (jhoola) of 211 feet, crosses the Sutlej, leading to Rúlú. On the opposite bank, the Cooloo Government has established a custom-house. Three forts, crowned with huge towers and battlements, crown the summit of the height,

every thing bespoke wretchedness and poverty. Rampore is a place of considerable sanctity. It possesses several temples of tolerable construction; one to Maha-deo, to Nersing, to Gonesh, to Hoonoomaun, and smaller ones to inferior deities. That to Nersing has been lately erected. To officiate at these shrines, there are a sufficiency of Brahmins, and a host of birajees, gosseins, sunyasseas, and other descriptions of fakeers and mendicants; indeed, they are the only people who seem to have escaped the desolation. The houses of the priesthood were neat and comfortable, and their persons and circumstances apparently thriving." There are two royal residences in Rampore, both built of dry stone, bound with wooden beams,* The Author praises the slated roof of one as superior in its style to anything of the kind he had seen; and the carved ornaments in wood, the pillars, screens, cornices, and other ornamental work, are of admirable execution.

The summer residence of the Bischur Rajah is at Seran, higher up the country, and deeply retired within the snowy mountains, 7250 feet above the level of the sea. The climate there is said to be fine. About three miles from that place, near the Sutlej, are hot springs. "Formerly, human sacrifices were offered at a remarkable temple, sacred to Bhema Kali, the patroness of Bischur: they have been disused since the British conquest."+

The province of Bischur, extending to the Chinese territory on the N. and N. E., is bounded, on the E.

* Houses of this construction are said to last for ages. The walls are composed of long cedar or pine beams and stone, in alternate courses; the ends of the beams, where they meet at the corners, being bolted together by wooden pins.

† Transactions of Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 377.

and S. E. by Gurwal, and W. by the Sutlej and the Cooloo territory. It comprises, first, the mountainous district of Kunawur, embracing all the northern, northeastern, and eastern tracts, within and behind the snowy hills, in the glen of the Sutlej; secondly, the Rampore district, extending down the valley of the Sutlej, with the smaller glens and ravines that drain into it; thirdly, the valley of the Pabur, with the smaller valleys that descend from the Móral ridge to that river; fourthly, the Nawur and Teekur valleys, with all the intervening tracts between it and the Sambracote valley, where the river bends to the S.E. The inhabitants of this last-mentioned division are represented as peculiarly savage, treacherous, licentious, and abandoned in morals; and a character not much better is assigned to the natives of the adjacent districts, who are represented as unpleasing in appearance, cowardly, and cruel. The greatest strength of Bischur lies in the wild passes and hardy population of Kunawur, who are of the Bhotea or Tatar family. Their physiognomy does not more strikingly distinguish them from the degraded race upon which they border, than their frank and courteous manners, their bravery, hospitality, and singular honesty. "Every person is safe in Kunawur, of whatever religion or sect he may be, whether Hindoo or Lama, Mohammedan or Christian." These worthy highlanders are almost exclusively the commercial carriers between Hindostan and Tatary, as well as between Tatary and Cashmere. Although recognised as Hindoos by descent and general profession, they, for the most part, follow the Lama religion. No Brahmins have ever settled in this district, nor will they go there. The Lama priests are scattered about the country, and the people carry

about their persons small idols purchased at Lassa.* Hindoostanee here ceases to be used or understood.

The Mora-ke-kanda, next to the snowy range the loftiest mountain in Bischur, is interesting as forming the ridge which divides and turns the waters of India. "Taking its rise from a mass of snowy peaks that advance on the east of the Sutlej above Rampore, it sends branches to the westward, that form part of the banks of the Sutlej, and on the east that extend to the Pabur; while another ridge extends in a southwesterly direction, but very irregularly, and under various names, the whole way to Irkee, and even to the plains. The waters that rise upon the eastern and south-eastern faces of this splendid range, are thus sent to the Pabur and the Girree, and, with those of the Tonse and Jumna, find their way by the Ganges to the Bay of Bengal; while those which flow from the western and northern sides are carried by the Sutlej and the Indus into the Gulf of Sinde and the Arabian Sea. The mountain is worthy of its great office, massy and dark, but streaked with snow, and cut into deep and numerous ravines, wild with rock and wood." +

From Rampore, Mr. Fraser had proceeded as far as Seran, with the intention of exploring the glen of the Sutlej, when orders were received for his brother to proceed with all convenient speed, to assume the charge of affairs at Gurwal. On reaching the banks of the Jumna, he formed the resolution to trace to their sources the rivers that form the celebrated Ganges; places to which no European had ever before penetrated.

Fraser, p. 262-268,

Fraser, p. 250.