CHAPTER IX 



THE UPPER VALLEYS AND COUNTRY OF THE BHOTIAS 



We were now about to enter the upper valleys of the 

 great Himalayan range. The province of Kumaon, under 

 British rule, includes the country of the Bhotias up to the 

 confines of Tibet. The name Bhotia applies to the upper 

 hill tribes, which are not Hindustani and not Hunia, but 

 an intervening race speaking both languages generally, 

 their own being of an intermediate type. In the Kumaon 

 province there are the districts of Bians, Dharma, 

 Chaudans ; also Juhar and the Milam and Niti valleys. 



The most difficult portion of the journey to the summit 

 of the range lies where the traveller emerges from the 

 deep valleys of the lower hills through the most precipitous 

 defiles to the upper Himalayas, where the valleys are 

 broader and more open, the climate much cooler, and 

 instead of dense jungle there are grassy slopes and tall 

 pine forests. 



The route lay along the course of the Kali river, which, 

 rising under the cluster of snow-clad peaks which form 

 the main divide between British territory and Tibet, de- 

 scends through the Bians valley, and forms the boundary 

 between Kumaon and Nepal, It is joined at Titlakot 

 by the Dhauli, which comes down from the Dharma 

 valley. Between the two lies the district of Chaudans, 

 which culminates in the snowy peak of Irvajung, 21,500 



