their bellies, we halted this day. In the course of the morning the Unías in charge of the Wazir's sheep came up, and stated that they could not bring up our cattle; that at the foot of the dry watercouse being unwilling to move, and the other very lame. Thermometer at night 419.

August 31st.-Thermometer 41o. Water frozen during the night. Frost greatest just before sun-rise. March at eight A. M. At one thousand two hundred and eighty paces arrive at the bed of the Daul river. The stream is now much broader and deeper than when we crossed before. The rivulet near which we encamped last night falls into the Dault here, which is about two feet deep and very rapid. The descent was very rugged and winding amidst large blocks of stone; much of the Chand on both banks of the river, the grains smaller than that cultivated; but the plaut throws out many pods, much foliage, and appears hardy. At three thousand seven hundred paces reach the ground on which we encamped in going; and, finding our cattle much fatigued, from the badness of the road, abandon our intention of endeavouring to reach Gotang. When we went to the Undés, the mountains by which we are now surrounded were almost entirely bare; they are now covered with verdure, and many of the plants going to seed. The white, yellow, and red flowering strawberries have bore abundance of flowers, but only a cone of seed without any pulp whether in a more kindly soil they would produce fruit may be worth trying. September 1st.-Thermometer 36o. March at eight by the same route we came. Descend the steep Ghati to the bed of the Dauli. One of the yaks could not be driven round the projection of rock which led to it, but resolutely charged back again in spite of sticks and stones. The Unias went by a lower road along the steep face of the rock. The stream of the Dauli was very rapid, and reached half way up the yak's shoulder. After having gone about a hundred yards, perpendicular rocks, dipping into the river, compelled them to cross again to the right bank, and a third crossing took place immediately above the Sanga, which was so bad that our men were afraid of going along it even with very light loads. Their apprehensions were reasonable enough, for the Sanga was made only of two loose

:

sticks of fir, with large loose stones sloped nearly in the angle of 45°. At six thousand one hundred paces the Dauli meets the stream which comes from behind the Nar-Nárágan Parbat near Bhadrináth. This river is larger than the Dauli. Of the two arches of snow which lay over the river as we passed before, one had dissolved, and nothing remained but the abutments; the other was entire and still of great thickness. The road was almost as bad as possible. Indeed it is scarcely in the power of imagination to suppose that such a surface could be trodden by men and cattle without their being precipitated into the Daul, which rolled a tremendous current at the foot of the slope, over which the path run (if that could be with any propriety called such a name, when effaced in many places by recent slips, and in others by blocks of stones, for nearly a quarter of a mile together). This was a march of disaster. The yaks, in inclining their bodies towards the mountain to prevent their slipping into the river, struck their loads against portions of rock, and tore the packages. At every hundred yards there was a cry of something being wrong. The people, anxious to get over the dangers and difficulties of the march, in opposition to what I could say, persisted in driving the cattle too fast. The day was very hot; and the yaks, oppressed by the heat, the weight of their burthens and the incessant calling and flinging of stones, found no more effectual way of escaping from these annoyances than by running down the almost perpendicular face of the rock and dashing into the cold stream. Sometimes by the slipping of the soil they fell into the water with some violence, and after cooling themselves, to my great mortification, generally lost their loads in climbing over stones to regain the road. At three reached our ground; and in the evening I had the mortification to learn, that two yaks in the last detachment could not be brought forward; one had slipped into a niche in the bank of the river and could not get up, and the other had become so very lame as to be unable to pass over the sharp edged blocks of stone which lay in the road. At night thermometer 569.

September 2d. Halt at Gótang. Thermometer 56°. At night 54°. September 3d,

Thermometer 44°.

berries are affording a second crop. The Shikari, who received from us two rupees on the banks of the Chang-lú for killing a Baral, was engaged at Gamsal watching the crops, and said he was debarred using his gun by the Seyánas until the crops were got in, as snow would certainly follow the explosion. We rez

pect their prejudices, and did not go out, although the black partridge tempted us to do so in pursuit of them by their frequent calls. September 9th. Thermometer 50°. Marched at 11. The villagers of Pharkiah made much hesitation in taking up our loads, notwithstanding the Gorkhali havildar threathened them with a fine, and offered a deduction of two rupees from their payment of revenue. At length they agreed, and a party set off. At four thousand nine hundred paces cross the Sankha over the Dauli, at the place where a wall is built with a door in it, for the purpose of preventing the goats and sheep, laden with salt and wool, coming from the Undés or northernmost part of Bútán, springing into the river. Whilst taking a little rest upon a stone I heard the call of Chakórs on some rocks of great height, to which I gained access by a steep, long, and difficult route. Whilst clambering up, I had very nearly placed my hands upon a brown snake, which had got half its body into a hole before I was able to strike it. I succeeded in getting three Chakórs, one of which was of great size, and had large double spurs one above the other on each leg. At 4h 35' reached Malári, having come five thousand seven hundred and forty paces. The crops of Millet, Pháphar and Awu-jou look well. The bed of ice, which filled the bed of the Malúri river, has disappeared, but the tops of the high mountains to the east are covered with snow.

complain much of the extortions of the Gorkiahs. The poorest man is compelled to pay a poll tax of four kacha rupees. This has caused many villages to be deserted, and the population is now much diminished. This evening, whilst looking at our goats, a Malári man came to us and entered into conversation. We asked how it happened that one portion of the village was in rnins, and that so many of the houses were in such a state of decay? The former inhabitants, he said, were dead; and when enquiry was made if there had been any sudden and violent sickness, he answered, that, of the particular quarter to which we pointed, the tenants had been plundered of their goats by the Juáris; that unable without these animals to carry on their usual traffic of grain and salt with the Uniás, they were deprived of the means of paying their rent to the Gorkiahs, who took the remainder of their cattle, their cooking utensils, the rings out of the noses of their wives and daughters, and seized their children as slaves. Many persons were actually starved to death, and others fled. Including the regular rent, he said, the inhabitants of Malári had an annual sum of one thousand rupees forced from it, although the first only amounts to two hundred and fifty. "In the time of our Rájás," said the man, "these yards, now empty, were filled with goats; each old inhabitant had one house to place his son when married, and another for his daughter, who had a portion in cattle. We were then, if not wealthy, at least at our ease, and occupied and happy. At present we are poor and wretched. If we had masters like you once again, these pens might contain the same number of cattle as formerly; but at present, if a man by his industry raises a small stock of goats, a Juári or a Darmi plunderer attacks him and carries them off, and we can get no redress from our present masters, nor are we strong enough to resist or make reprisals." Independently of the direct plunder they obtain, without any other caution than putting a number of men under arms, the Juáris are interested in destroying the trade of Niti Ghati, in order that they may have a larger proportion of the profitable traffic with the Undés. At night the thermometer was

58°.

September 11th.-Thermometer 51°. March at seven by the route we came. At three thousand five hundred and seventy-five paces cross a sankho over the Dauli to the right bank. The descent from hence is very rapid, and the stream is much broken by vast fragments of rock and heaps of timber, which have been much accumulated since our passing upwards. In one place, the river has worked its way under a kind of arch formed of these materials. At six thousand two hundred and forty paces reach the village of Jhelim, now in ruins, with the exception of two or three houses. A villager said that some time ago, Déb Singh, our Juári acquaintance, swept the country during the space of two months, and carried off two thousand head of goats, sheep, and neat cattle, without receiving any molestation from the Gorkiahs, or being compelled to make restitution or any kind of reparation.

September 12th.-Halt at Jhelim, as our loads did not come last night.

September 13th.-Thermometer 529. March at seven and half A. M.; no tidings of the loads. The village of Jhelim is situate on the face of a hill considerably higher than the road from Látá to Malári:

: descending, therefore, we fell into the old road. On the road we were met

by a messenger from Bhawáná Sing Négí, with a letter from him, and another from Jagrup, Jamadar of the party now at Baragaon, and Joshi Math. The former stated, that the Gorkiahs had distressed him much on account of having assisted in forwarding our baggage, that his life would have been forfeited had we not returned by this road, but that now he was perfectly at ease and disposed to do every thing in his power to serve us. Jagrup said that he would take care that we should have every facility that he could afford us in our return: Bhawání Singh stated that we might take the Pain Kandi or Búdán road, as might be most agreeable. At five thousand six hundred and fortyfive paces cross the Dauli, over a very bad sankho, to the left bank. Here the road, which is very bad, ascends rapidly, in many places little more than a foot broad; and projections from above oblige the passenger to creep under them, almost immediately over the bed of the river, which is about five hundred yards

below. At seven thousand and twentyfive paces reach the summit, from whence the descent is very difficult and steep; indeed, were a person from below to see travellers above, he could not fail of feeling much anxiety for their situation. At seven thousand six hundred and fifty paces reach our former ground and encamp. A Sankho had been washed away, and the loss of a long tree, not worth three rupees in this country, endangers the loss of life to every one who attempts this most dangerous route, of which no conception can be formed by description. Let it suffice to say, that the very goats resisted attempting some parts of it for a considerable time, and that we were, in more than one place, reduced to the necessity of creeping on our hands and knees: yet every one arrived without accident, and the Jabú climbed and descended in a manner that created admiration; but in one spot, it was advisable that he should attempt an almost perpendicular face of rock, rather than be obliged to come down by another so steep that it was a task of great danger for man. By a long detour he reached us over a tract known to our guides only, but the man who had the care of him declared that this care was superfluous, for that he could come down a surface as steep as was practicable for man. He had been brought to the side of the river under an idea that he might have crossed; and, from the height of the bank where I stood, I thought the attempt attended with little danger; insomuch, that the best swimmer in the party having declined the task, I had resolved upon trying. However, on reaching the bed of the river, and passing one stream, I was deterred from the experiment, in consequence of the force and velocity of the current, the extreme coldness of the water, and the danger of being dashed against the stones or stumps of trees.

Although money had been given to the Séyunus of Jhelim for the hire of the carriers, they had kept the money and not furnished a particle of food to the unfortunate people who had to bear the burthens and heat of the day. The oppression exercised by the government renders natives equally oppressive in proportion to their power. Thermometer at night 62. Thermometer 58°. September 14th. March at 9h 25' along the left bank of the

Dauli; one of my finest goats, heavy with young, and the boldest in the whole herd, fell into the stream and was hurried away by the current. The bridge was about twelve inches broad, and formed by a fir-tree, a little flattened on its upper surface, and a round sapling on each side. Whilst the goats crowded at the foot of the Sankho, two went on boldly, but when they had reached within a few feet of the opposite side, the pressure of the feet of the goats had pushed forwards one of the side spars, and unluckily that on which a goat was ; one end fell down, and the other tilting up, threw the poor animal into the stream. This spot has brought me much disaster; for it was on its bank, within twenty yards of the Sankho, that the Pandit's slave dashed my watch from my girdle upon the stones. However this accident did not affect me, although seriously inconvenient, onetenth so much as the loss of one poor goat that cost only a rupee: but this latter had been attained with more difficulty than the watch had cost me. At eight thousand and twenty-five paces reached the road running under the village of Tolmu, which, surrounded by fields of the crimson murcha, looks very pretty. The marcha is a plant which I mistook in my journey upwards for the lal-sag of Hindústan, or the Amaranthus Gangeticus, and the sipahis who had accompanied the party which went in 1808 to survey the Ganges, fell into the same error, and used it as a pot-herb. In a short time, those who had eaten much of it were affected with purging and soreness in the inside of the mouth. The natives of the hills, however, employ it without injury whilst it is young, but I neglected to enquire in what manner it was dressed. I thought we should be able to reach Látá this evening, and therefore pushed on. Having arrived at the foot of the mountain (which we ascended on leaving Látá), the sky became suddenly clouded, and large drops of rain with gusts of wind announced an approaching storm. As the day closed rapidly, I saw it would not be possible to pass over the rugged mountainous road without accident, as much of it lay on the edge of the cliff over the river, and therefore determined to take up my lodging for the night. A small cavity under a ledge of rock just sheltered me

from the rain. carpet and blanket on the ground, I went to bed dinnerless, and my companion fared 110 better. The principal part of our servants remained behind, taking such lodging as they could find; but they were much better circumstanced than their masters, as they had their food along with

Having stretched my

them.

September 15th.-Thermometer 589. At eight A. M. began our march. The town of Látá consists only of eight or nine houses, and a temple of Nanda Déba, at which officiate some priestesses, who do not, according to report, either take a vow, or observe the practice of chastity, being allowed what intercourse with the other sex they may think proper to take without restraint. Jowáhir Singh had now a knowledge of our real character, and said that he would fetch the loads from Malári as soon as he should have seen his brother. He was anxious to have a goat to sacrifice to the deity of the place, in gratitude for our safe return, but I believe that his own appetite had a greater share in inducing him to prefer this request than any motive of religion. Jowáhir says that provisions are very scarce, owing to the visitations of the locusts, with which the country has been plagued for the last two months. For the preceding two days we have seen many locusts directing their flight towards the Undés, where they breed. Thermometer at night, 72°.

September 16th.-Thermometer 64°. March at 8. At one thousand three hundred and forty paces we come to a Sankho, over the river Reni, which separates Bu tan from Hindústan, and falls into the Dauli. At seven thousand five hundred and forty-two paces encamp in the fields belonging to the village of Dak. Our dinner consisted of some pumpkin boiled with dal, and hunger made the dish palatable.

September 17th.-Thermometer 66°. March at 8 A. M. rain increases to such a degree as to prevent us enjoying the pleasure of the horse-chesnut and rhododendron trees, under which we pass. In one of the former were monkies feeding heartily on their fruit, which is relished by few animals. At eleven hundred and forty paces reach the summit of the ascent; and at three thousand one hundred