1842.] of the Himmalay a Mountains. xxxvii 



65. About thirty miles north of Almorah, or a little west of north, 

 there is a small tract of rather greater extent than those to be hereafter 

 noticed, and more uniformly level in surface. It is watered by the Gao- 

 muttee and its several feeders, a river which joins the Surjoo, one of the 

 branches of the Kallee at Bagesur. These feeders are very numerous, 

 and the glens in which they rise being broad, with a level terrain, form 

 by their inosculations with the principal one, the appearance of a consi- 

 derable tract of open and almost level country. From Koolan to Re- 

 tora is a distance of ten miles, in all which line the surface appears to 

 have little undulation. The forest is not too thick, and yet from some 

 unexplained cause, the tract is unhealthy in a high degree, so much so, 

 as to be in a great measure neglected, and allowed to run waste. The 

 elevation of Byznoth, a temple of some sanctity on the Gaomuttee, and 

 which may be taken as the lowest point of the valley, is 3,800 feet; the 

 villages are situated chiefly on the lateral ridges which divide the seve- 

 ral subordinate glens. 



66. In the beds of the different rivers there are, as might be expected, 

 various spots of a limited extent, and of sufficient evenness of surface to 

 be always objects of interest to the cultivator, though from their small- 

 ness, scarcely entitled to the denomination of vallies. These spots 

 generally occur in an advanced part of the river's course, and being there- 

 fore the lowest places in the mountains, are necessarily the hottest. In 

 general they are fertile, yet are all considered more or less unhealthy, 

 particularly at the breaking up of the rains ; and when narrower than 

 usual, so notoriously subject to the awal, or jungle fever, as to be entirely 

 neglected ; instances occur in the bed of the Surjoo and Kalee. But 

 where the width is rather greater, or the surrounding mountains not too 

 lofty, they form the most populous, the most productive, and the most 

 beautiful spots within the mountains. The width is seldom more than 

 half a mile, but the length is sometimes considerable. 



67. The most remarkable instances of this kind may be seen in the 

 bed of the Sutlej at Soonee and at Dutnuggur ; of the Bhagerettee at 

 Teeree ; of the Aluknunda at Sreenuggur ; at Pannae of the Western 

 Ramgunga along nearly the whole of its course ; of the Cossillah for 

 a distance of ten miles ; of the Benee Gunga for about the same distance ; 

 of the Buspa at Sungla; the Sirjoo at Kubrol, of the Geree Gunga 

 in a great part of its course ; and in the Comoulda, one of the principal 



