1846.] and Boorun Passes over the Himalaya, 111 



monstrous dimensions. The very general practice of decorating the 

 temples (not of the men but) of the gods, with horns, which prevails 

 even amongst the Mohammedans of the Hindoo Koosh, reminds us of 

 the expression — " horns of the altar" — among the Jews, as well as of the 

 altar of Apollo at Delos, which is reported to have been wholly formed 

 of them. There is perhaps a reference to the rays of the sun, which are 

 denoted in Hebrew by the word Kiran, which also expresses horns ; 

 hence, when it is said " Moses' face shone," the Vulgate chooses to render 

 it — " was horned ;" and the Italian painters have ever since represented 

 the prophet with horns just as Alexander the Great (" Dhul," Karnein) 

 wears them in right of his father Jupiter Ammon. The sun would 

 naturally play a prominent role in the primeval worship of the Himalaya, 

 and I remember once at Paikha, on the upper Pabur, when marking out 

 a short vocabulary, having " Purmeshwur" given me as the name for 

 the sun : a significant commentary on the Gayatri ! 



Sungla is rather a large village, built on a slope facing the south- 

 east, about 150 feet above the Buspa, and 8,600 above the sea. There 

 seems no medium in the looks of the inhabitants, who are either very 

 handsome or very ugly. Of the extreme beauty of the valley there can 

 be but one opinion : the river flows swiftly down the centre over gravel 

 and stones ; above this, on plateau of various levels, is an abundant ter- 

 raced cultivation of cheena, bathoo, tobacco, kodah, and the beautiful 

 buckwheat, diversified by occasional woods of cedar, poplar, and the 

 usual fruit trees, irrigated ad libitum without labour ; the difficulty in the 

 hills being to level the ground, and in the plains to water it. To the 

 south the base of the outer Himalaya is sloping and verdant, with 

 woods of cedar and koil firs : and immediately above the valley to the 

 north-east, rise the enormous bare, grey, rocky scarps and pinnacles of 

 the Ruldung group, with considerable snow beds wherever the slope 

 allows, and still resisting the force of the southern sun. This magni- 

 ficent group extends far up the Buspa towards and beyond Rukchum, 

 above which a single pyramid of rock springs up nearly to the height 

 of the loftiest peaks behind Sungla, 21,500 feet : but to see the valley 

 and its setting in all its perfection of pinnacle, crag, and fields of the 

 purest snow, one must mount to the highest hamlet towards the Roopin 

 Pass. The scene strongly recalled Chamouni to my mmd : the Buspa 

 enacts the Arve well, and in each situation the mountains actually rise 



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