CHAPTER XV. 

 THE BOON CONTINUED 



THE war with Nepaul, like most mountain wars, was 

 long and tedious. It ended in the defeat of the 

 Nepaulese, and the territory they had recently acquired 

 in the Himalayas passed under the English rule. The 

 greater part was restored to the various rajas whom 

 the Nepaulese had driven out; but some portions our 

 Government retained in its own immediate possession, 

 and among these was the Doon, that first range of the 

 Himalayas which bounds it on the north, and also a 

 small mountain tract which has always been connected 

 with the Doon, and which lies just beyond the Jumna to 

 the west. 



The climate on this first range of the Himalayas 

 approaches in coolness to that of England. It is 

 singular, therefore, that, though so easily accessible, 

 these mountains remained for fully ten years in our 

 possession before any English thought of resorting to 

 them for either health or relaxation. The reason, I 

 have heard, was this. The mountains of Central India, 

 covered with wood and jungle, were known to be deadly 

 unhealthy. It was supposed that these mountains, 

 similarly forest-clad, would be the same ; the discovery 



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