244 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



time, I recognized the cap I had presented to his 

 predecessor. 



I will conclude my account of the monastery by 

 remarking that, though Gooroo Nanuck was himself 

 the husband of four wives, neither the mohunts, his 

 successors, nor the monks who represented his dis- 

 ciples were permitted any. This obligation to celibacy 

 was, however, from all I heard, but very lightly 

 regarded. 



Having now described the tea plantations, the town 

 of Dehra, and the monastery, I will give a short 

 account of the Doon itself, and first of its history. 

 Of this, previous to the arrival of Gooroo Nanuck, next 

 to nothing authentic is known. It has been supposed by 

 some Indian archaeologists that a great city once stood 

 within the Doon near the banks of the Jumna. The 

 idea is based on the statements of a Chinese traveller 

 who visited India about the period of the Christian 

 era, but as to its correctness I am very incredulous. 

 There are no traditions of such a city, nor any re- 

 mains, nor any indications whatever of its having 

 ever existed. 



On the further side of the river there is, however, 

 a curious relic of remote antiquity ; it is a large boulder 

 stone, completely covered with inscriptions. The stone 

 is of roundish shape, and of considerable size, some six 

 or seven feet perhaps in diameter ; it lies not very far 

 from the river, in a tract of ground covered with stones 

 and drift and overgrown with jungle. The inscriptions 

 are in some unknown character ; in appearance they 

 something resemble those on the column of Feroze 



