108 Sources of the Punjab Rivers. [No. 110. 



black conical peak to the South, dedicated to Kalee Debe e. The place 

 was called Hoolyas, in Sanskrit Hoolyasaca, and was merely a resting 

 place at the foot of the pass ; there I shot some snow pheasants and 

 Alpine Hares. On the following morning I began the ascent of the pass 

 up steep banks of loose angular masses of rock, and over sloping snow 

 beds, down which fragments of rock came bounding and dashing along 

 with a crash like the rattling of continued and numerous file-firing. The 

 porter who carried my iron tentpegs was struck on the knee by one of 

 these stones, and hurled before my eyes down the sloping indurated snow. 

 Luckily the snow bed terminated in a fork between two mounds of 

 broken fragments of rock, and there the man's further progress was 

 stopped, and his life saved. He was lame however for three weeks after- 

 wards. The crest of the pass was a narrow ridge not more than ten and 

 twelve feet wide, covered with soft and newly fallen snow. There I 

 spread my cloak and found by my thermometer that the height was 

 15,700 feet. In the middle of the ridge there were two small slabs erect 

 and smeared with vermilion, near which were numerous sticks covered 

 with rags. For a few minutes I had a splendid view of the green hills 

 of Chumba smiling in the distance. A thick haze then descended and 

 obscured even the terrific gulph below, and I commenced the descent 

 without seeing where I was to halt for the night. A goat was sacrificed 

 by my servants to the Goddess Kalee, and to that they attributed my 

 safety as well as their own. The descent was 5,000 feet to the spot 

 were I halted, at the head of the Nye river, one of the principal tributa- 

 ries of the Ravee. 



On the 21st of July, I continued my journey, following the course of 

 the Nye river for seven miles to the village of Loondee, below which 

 1 crossed the river and halted at the Dhurmsala, or traveller's house. 

 The next day I reached Burgaon, a large village on the left bank of the 

 Nye, and was much cheered with the sight of a mulberry tree j and there 

 I got some good wheat flour, some excellent milk, and fine honey. On 

 the 24th I passed through Footahun, below which the Nye and Boodhil 

 rivers join the Ravee, to Poolnee; and ascending the Boodhil river for 

 five miles I crossed it by a very respectable wooden bridge, 68 feet in 

 length and 98 feet above the river, with a railing, knee high, on each side. 

 There I saw wild grapes and mulberries just beginning to ripen — and 

 continuing my journey for an ascent of 1,500 feet, I reached Burmawar, 

 or Vermmawura, the ancient Capital of the Verma family of Chumba, 

 7,015 feet above the sea. The spot was a beautiful one ; but the severity 

 of the winter had no doubt led to its being abandoned as a capital for 



