256 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



The mountain of Daobun is really beautiful. It 

 rises to a height of about ten thousand feet, and it 

 is clothed with forests to its very topmost crest. It 

 has also, what is very rare in the Lower Himalaya, 

 precipices of limestone. Nearly perpendicular, and 

 standing on either side of a narrow gorge, these cliffs 

 tower upwards above the forest like gigantic gateways, 

 with an aspect of extreme grandeur. 



On the northern slope of the mountain, a little below 

 the summit, there is a broad, deep dyke. It is artificial, 

 and has been quarried out of the rocky soil. The 

 tradition is, that it was excavated to hold the frozen 

 snow which in former days the raja of the region had, 

 during the hot season, to send to Delhi to cool the 

 water and sherbet of the Emperor. The tradition 

 is scarcely one to be accepted. Carried on men's 

 shoulders, the snow would hardly have reached the 

 plains unmelted, let alone the long journey to Delhi 

 beyond. 



The mountain of Barat possesses no beauty ; it is 

 noticeable only on account of the ruins of a fortress 

 that crown its summit. The ruins are insignificant, but 

 they are interesting as being almost the only example 

 of a fortress so situated in all this region of the Hima- 

 laya. I may add also that from the summit of this 

 mountain is to be obtained a distant view of the plains 

 of the Punjaub. 



It remains to make a brief mention of the capital of 

 this small region ; it is situated in the Doon below, not 

 in the Dehra Doon, but in that prolongation of the 

 valley which lies to the west of the Jumna. There, 



