106 Sources of the Punjab Rivers, [No. 110. 



high, with six arms ; on its head there was placed a small squatted Bud- 

 dhistical looking figure which the attendant Brahmin declared to be of 

 Anna Pooroos, probably meaning Anna Purna, the beneficent form of 

 Parvati, the wife of Siva. In the Court there were many tall poles 

 surmounted by cow's tails and pieces of cloth, placed there as offerings, 

 by Tibetan Buddhists as well as by Brahminical Hindoos. 



The village of Toonda in which the Temple of Triloknath is situated, 

 had been overwhelmed in snow in the preceding year, 1838, when all 

 the houses which had not been bonded with wood, had fallen down, and 

 killed the inhabitants. The Rana or Chief of Toonda Triloknath is 

 under the anthority of the Rajah of Chumba, to which state the lower por- 

 tion of Lahul belongs. 



The province of Lahul embraces the whole breadth of the Chundra 

 and Bhaga rivers, and extends down their united streams called the 

 Chundra Bhaga in a W. N. W. direction to about ten miles below Tri- 

 loknath. It is divided into two unequal parts ; the larger belonging to 

 the state of Kooloo, and the smaller to Churnba. In the former there 

 were 108 villages, containing 740 houses, and 3,764 inhabitants. 



The revenue of the province is derived from two different sources ; a 

 house tax, and a duty on the carriage of merchandize. Under the Rajah's 

 administration each house was taxed at 10 and 12 rupees, but the Sikh 

 Government increased the tax to twenty rupees per house, by which they 

 raised the collections from 5,000 to 10,000 rupees per annum, the houses 

 of the priests and poorer labourers being exempted from taxation. The 

 rates of toll were at the same time adjusted by Zurawur Singh, the go- 

 vernor of Ladakb, the duty upon each carriage sheep being raised from 

 half an anna (or three farthings) to four annas, (or six pence.) This was 

 considered very oppressive by the people, but as a sheep can carry 8 and 

 10 seers, or one fourth of a man's load, the fair and natural rate of duty 

 would be to charge one fourth of the duty levied upon each man ; and 

 Zurawur Singh did no more, for a man is charged one rupee. On a pony 

 which carries from 60 to 70 seers, or double the load of a man, the duty 

 levied is likewise double or two rupees per pony. 



The grain raised in Lahul is all consumed in the country ; and as 

 there are no natural productions, the house tax is paid by the inhabitants 

 from the joint Stock, obtained by hiring themselves as porters between 

 the states in the lower hills of the Punjab and Ladakh ; the porters who 

 bring goods from Kooloo, Mundee and Chumba being changed at Tandee 

 for natives of the province itself, who receive 6 rupees cash, for the jour- 

 ney to Ladakh. The hire of a pony to Ladakh is 1*2 rupees. 



