298 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [August, 1912. 
** olla,” ! which prevailed throughout the year in that direction, 
whilst. travellers going by way of Nepal were free from it 
during four or five months.” 
One of the most interesting descriptions of breath-seizure, 
its causes and remedies, is to be found in Father Ippolito 
Desideri, S.J., under the year 1721, when, on his return journey 
to India from Lhasa, where he had spent six years, he came to 
Mt. Langur before reaching Kuti. 
‘‘In that journey, one passes a very high and difficult 
mountain called Langur. It has this peculiarity that whoever 
crosses it feels infallibly a great discomfort consisting especially 
in a strong headache, pains in the chest and difficulty of respira- 
tion ; in the case of many there is also fever. In fact, I my- 
self experienced it the whole of the day that we spent in the 
ascent, and the night that we remained there. Besides, though 
we passed it at the end of May, we found not only plenty of 
snow, but such a stinging cold wind that, in spite of a good 
, it caught me so 
my bones there. The usual remedies against these discomforts, 
while crossing such a mountain, is to go along chewing roasted 
rice, caryophyllum [garofant, cloves ?], cinnamon, and some 
ndian nuts, called sopari [supart], but known by the Portuguese 
and others in the Indies by the name of arecca. As it is im- 
possible to ascend and descend the whole of Mt. Langur in sous 
day, there is a big house there, where travellers stop for rest. 
But many cannot remain inside owing to the — of 
breathing ; ; they go and stop outside under the open s 
“* When one has at last gone up and down that pecteie, 
the headache, pain in the chest, fever and every other discom- 
fort graduall y disappear. Shortly before we passed there, an 
Armenian merchant advanced _in years, who was on his way 
to Lhasa, had died there one night. 
_ ‘ Many judge that these Psonitorts are due to the exhala- 
tions of certain minerals, which may be lying hid within the 
1 Ol in Desideri. Cf. A. Dz “gpa apr Gli Seritti del P. M. della 
Tomba, Firenze, 1878, pp. xviii, 48; aul in Asiatick Researches, vol II. 
—— of the Kingdom of Nepal, p. 307 : Saoaat. Alph, Tibet., 432. 
“Spectabat olim [Kuti] ad Regnum Nekpal, sive Sinice 
Katmandu, Badgaon] concesserunt Tibetanis ea occasione 
haec via ex Indostan per Nekpal strata primum est. Nam antea via erat 
in Tibetum per Bramascion. Et ea quidem vetus multo facilior & 
ecommodior erat. Poterant Ind uti, & b vi- 
ori itinere merces in Tibetum inferre. At a Sintones majori numero peri- 
bant ob morbum pestilentem Olla ; Pear is dirius atque constanter per 
omnes anni tempestates seviret. Eis pericio, aperta via per Nekpal, 
alieni sunt quatuor certe, vel etiam quinque anni mensibus, a Novembri 
ad Aprilem usque.’’ Cf. Groret, Mek tian, pp. 439-440. 

