562 Journal of a trip through Kunawur, §c. [No. 102. 



repeating the sentence " Oom manee paimee hoong" as fast as they 

 can, in a sing-song voice. After this the Lama deposits the stone, 

 and the party retires. 



The slabs placed on these piles are sometimes very creditably 

 carved ; at others quite the reverse, being mere thin slabs of slate, 

 with the letters scratched on the surface. 



The word "manee" is also applied to a small brass barrel-shap- 

 ed instrument, about two or three inches long, which is made to 

 revolve round an axis, one end of which is held in the hand ; the 

 oftener this is made to revolve during the day, the greater chance 

 the person has of going to heaven. It is laid aside while the possessor 

 is employed in laborious work, or any occupation requiring the as- 

 sistance of both hands, but the instant that task is accomplished, 

 the whirling of the manee is resumed. In it are enclosed a few scraps 

 of paper, inscribed by the Lamas with some sacred sentences. 



The district of Spiti is said to contain about forty villages, and 

 four hundred families; so that if we allow six and a half persons 

 as an average to each family, which will certainly be the utmost, 

 it will furnish a population of about two thousand six hundred 

 souls. In point of scenery and general appearance, the features of 

 the country throughout are far different, and less attractive than 

 the hills of Kunawur. 



Through the latter country we see the mountains towering aloft 

 in ragged and shattered pinnacles, bearing full witness to the mighty 

 and irresistible nature of the agency which has torn their firm strata 

 asunder, and hurled them aloft in spires of various forms. Such are 

 the usual characters of primary formations in every country. 



The sides of the mountains are there clothed often to their very 

 crests with forests of oak and pines, cheering thet raveller, and rob- 

 bing the gigantic and snow-clad mountains of their terrors. Villages 

 and cultivation are met with at no great distance from each other ; 

 and all bespeaks the presence of industry and plenty. 



Throughout the Tartar districts of Hungrung and Spiti, all wears a 

 different aspect,— a dull and melancholy air of desolate sadness, 

 seems to pervade the scene;— the mountains, less bold and rug- 

 ged, have a blackened and charred appearance, caused by the de- 



