350 HIMALAYA AND MOUNT EVEREST. [Mat 11, 1857. 



necessary condition of ascertaining the name than it was of deter- 

 mining the height, of Devadhiinga. 



The only doubt in my mind is the greater or less prevalence in 

 Kepal Proper of the term Devadhiinga. 



Having possibly obtained it from persons dwelling in the vicinity 

 of Kiiti, not at Kathmandu, I have written to Kathmandu to deter- 

 mine that question, and will here only add, that should the name 

 prove to be more familiar to the people of the Cosean basin, than to 

 those of the valley and capital, it will not be one whit less a " true 

 native name," just as Colonel Waugh's own " Powhanri" is as true a 

 native name, as Dr. Hooker's " Donkia," in relation to a Sikim peak 

 and Ghat. 



B. H. Hodgson. 



To the Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. 



The President was sure all who were present woukl be delighted if this 

 mountain should for ever retain the name of the distinguished geographer who, 



■following Lambton in the great trigonometrical survey of India, had heen the 

 means of carrying on that magnificent operation, which had been conducted to 

 a conclusion by Colonel Waugh, A more appropriate name could not be given 

 than that of Mount Everest ; and, whatever might be its name in India, he 

 hoped, in England at least, it would always be known by the name of Everest. 

 Mr. Prinsep, f.r.g.s., said it was known that the Himalaya range extended 



-many degrees in length, and that in the whole course of it there were moun- 

 tains of various heights. Some of them were the highest in the world. Those 

 which had been really measured, overhung the plains of India, and until 



-recently, it was supposed that the highest were near the sources of the Ganges. 

 Since then, however, the discovery had been made that there was a mountain 

 28,000 feet high ; and the present discovery showed another in Thibet, within 

 sight of the territory of Nepal, 29,000 feet high. When we came to measure 

 the mountains, in which the rivers of China rose, we should perhaps find some 

 of them 30,000 feet high. 



Colonel Everest, f.r.g.s., begged to say that the very kind manner in 

 which his successor and friend. Colonel Waugh, had spoken of him was far 

 beyond his merits. He had certainly an arduous task in India to perform, 

 and he did his best to bring it to maturity. One of the best measures he 

 effected was to bring forward into the department a gentleman of Colonel 

 Waugh's talents. The Court of Directors of the East India Company had 

 the good sense to select Lieutenant-Colonel, then Lieutenant Waugh, upon his 

 (Colonel Everest's) representation of his merits. Colonel Waugh had fully 

 borne out those representations, and he believed the Court of Directors were 

 thoroughly satisfied in accepting his recommendation. The decision of Colonel 

 Waugh, in giving his name to this high mountain, he certainly never contem- 

 plated. But as a spontaneous effusion of the regard of those Indian surveyors, 

 the most efficient of whom were bred in the department, educated in fact by 

 himself, the proceeding was very grateful to him personally. Yet he must 

 confess there were objections to his name being given to this mountain, which 

 did not strike everybody. One was, that his name was not pronounceable by 

 a native of India. The name could not be written in either Persian or Hindi, 



