918 Journal of a trip through Kunawur. [Nov. 



Scarcely had we arrived at the end of the march, when to add to 

 our discomfort a heavy thunder storm suddenly broke over us, obli- 

 ging us to seek shelter where we could, and soaking my bed and 

 other things which were still far in the rear. In the evening I wit- 

 nessed one of the most beautiful rainbows I had ever beheld ; the sun 

 was just dipping to the ridges of the hills, and shining on the vapoury 

 clouds that were floating up the valley, caused the bright colours of 

 the rainbow to stand forth most brilliantly, one end resting on the 

 river's brink while the wide arch was thrown across the valley and 

 was lost beyond the snow-clad summits of the other bank. 



It was nearly opposite to this village, on the left bank of the Sut- 

 ledge, that the conflict took place between the Goorkhas and Kuna- 

 wurrees, in which the advanced guard of the former experienced so 

 warm a reception as to make them glad to come to terms, and a treaty 

 was accordingly entered into, stipulating that so long as the Goorkhas 

 refrained from entering Kunawur, a yearly tribute should be paid 

 to them. This treaty, I believe, was never infringed, and remained in 

 force until the expulsion of the Goorkhas from these hills by the Bri- 

 tish forces. 



My people were so tired with the long march from Nachar, that they 

 begged hard for a halt at this place : as I was anxious to push on 

 however, and the next stage was said to be a short one, I did not com- 

 ply with the request, and accordingly proceeded on the morrow to 

 the village of Meeroo. 



Nearly the whole way was up hill, and in some places steep and 

 rugged, but it got better by degrees, until entering a forest of prickly 

 leafed oaks it became very good and continued so, although still up 

 hill, to the end of the march. The heat and consequent fatigue of 

 climbing steep hills under a burning sun were almost intolerable, and 

 I wished many a time that we were among the snows which capped 

 the range along whose sides we were toiling. Few things are more 

 calculated to strike the naturalist, in wandering through the grand and 

 beautiful scenery of these stupendous hills, than the almost total 

 absence of living creatures ; days and days he may travel on, through 

 woods that seem to promise shelter for every various form, so diversi- 

 fied are the trees and plants which they produce ; yet, save the crow, 

 or the swallow as it skims along the open grassy tracts, scarcely a 

 living thing is met with ; all seem to shun the intermediate heights ; 

 and while the bear and leopard, deer, and goats, flock to the higher 

 ridges near the snow, the various species of the feathered race cling to 

 the lower woody tracts, where sheltered and secure they rear their 



