696 Barometrical Altitudes in Nepal [Aug. 



The convexity of the plastron, may be a specific, but it cannot be 

 made a generic character. 



Soon after my arrival at Simla in March last, the old male died 

 from cold* ; the others lived through the rains well enough, but were 

 not so lively as in the plains, moving about less frequently. One of 

 the females even produced four eggs, but made no hole to receive 

 them as- in the former case, shewing plainly that the change of cli- 

 mate was at work upon them ; these eggs I placed under a hen, but 

 in a few days they had disappeared as in the former instance, and 

 whether stolen by my servants or by some small animal I could not 

 discover. 



The winter has proved toe cold for the remaining tortoises which 

 are dying fast, and of my seven pets I have only three alive, and I 

 fear I shall be unable to save them. 



VI. — Barometrical Elevations taken on a journey from Katmandhu to 

 Gosainsthdn, a place of pilgrimage in the mountains of Nipdl, by 

 Chhedi' Lohar, a smith in the employ of Captain Robinson, late 

 commanding the Escort of the Resident in Nipdl. 



The following table was placed in our hands by Captain Robinson, 

 before his departure to Europe. It is curious as shewing to what 

 good purposes the natural intelligence of uneducated servants, espe- 

 cially those of the mechanical classes, may be applied in judicious 

 hands. Chhedi' had acquired skill in the manufacture of guns 

 gunlocks, and any articles after European models ; he had learnt to boil 

 barometers, and note daily observations for his master's meteorological 

 journal before he was sent out on the experimental expedition in which 

 he has acquitted himself so well. This journal comprehends times 

 distances, statistical information, indications of the 3T*ft^ (brdmitar) 

 and DTvffe^ {mdmiter), barometer and thermometer, the aspect of 

 the sky, ^"q^^ft "^T^t (dhup-badari-pdni) sun-clouds-rain, as he 

 terms it ; and such other items of information as he thought 

 worthy of notice. As a specimen of the mode in which his memo- 

 randa are booked, we quote the commencement of the journal, making 

 use of Roman characters for want of the common Kaithi type. 



* The Bheels clean the shells of these animals from all flesh and the bones of 

 the neck and legs, and stopping up one end with wood, use them as boxes to 

 keep tobacco in ! 



