1842.] Dhoora Pass in Juwakir. 1163 



The Bis. 



The natives here have an idea, that people passing through a jungle 

 of this plant, (wolf's-bane,) are subject to illness, becoming at times 

 wholly insensible ; but I was inclined to think this illness arose from 

 the quick circulation of the blood in the fatigue of ascending in a rare- 

 fied air ; and this day my supposition is apparently verified, for in try- 

 ing my pulse by a watch with a second hand, I found on standing still 

 after a little bit of steep ascent, that my pulse beat at the rate of 160 

 in a minute. A seapoy's, (a hill man,) who was with me, beat at the 

 rate of 172. I found also, that in walking on level ground, my pulse 

 beat about 130. It is therefore most probable, that the great fatigue 

 experienced in climbing ascents at this height, is owing to the increas- 

 ed circulation of the blood.* 



N. B. — Arrived at the village of Boorfer, about five miles, at 4h. 40m. 

 p. m., (forty or fifty houses) situated in an open part of the valley with 

 numerous fields about. The valley of Mertoleet on the opposite side 

 of the river about half way. Crossed on a sanga rather a large stream 

 close below the village, the bed of it very wide, five or six punchakiesj 

 in the course of it. 



2§rd September. — Thermometer at 10 a. m. 56°, moist ther- 

 mometer 41°. Early in the morning hoar frost on the ground, 

 and a film of ice, the thickness of a shilling, on the water in the su- 

 raee. Night and morning beautifully clear ; not the smallest speck of 



* It is singular that on the 29th May 1842, 1 walked nearly all the distance from 

 Doong across the Oonta Dhoora Pass, including the whole ascent and descent of the 

 Pass unaided, without feeling any unusual fatigue. Two Booteas walked up the Pass 

 with me; five other Booteas, a hill servant, and a Mussulman of the plains, accom- 

 panied me (on jooboos,) and no one of the party complained of, or appeared to feel 

 unusual oppression. I recrossed the Pass, walking, on the 5th June, with exactly a 

 similar result.— J. A. W. 



Lieut. Weller is not singular in his exemption from suffering in rarefied air ; as 

 during a six years' residence in the hills, I have found that the European travellers to 

 great heights are affected by, or free from, the painful effects of rarefaction in about 

 equal numbers. I myself am a great sufferer. The generality of those affected find 

 their powers of motion and muscular exertion extraordinarily paralysed. The natives 

 do not attribute the effects indiscriminately to « nirbisi,' or aconite— and indeed the worst 

 oppression is felt above the reach of all vegetation. ' Bish ke howa' (The poisoned 

 air) is the general expression for the cause of the oppression, though it is true that 

 certain plants are often quoted as the root of the evil. — J. H. B. 



f Meaning below Murtolee village. — J. A. W. 



% Water mills.— J. H. B. 



7 M 



