408 The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. [May, 



Goth, about a mile above the spot where it expands into the Mulooa 

 Tal : it is a pretty large and perfectly clear stream, but is pushing a 

 great bank of stones and gravel into the lake, which must ultimately be 

 filled up, if not previously emptied by the bursting of the barrier at its 

 lower extremity, which is said to be wearing down rapidly ^ The dimen- 

 sions of the lake are about three-fourths of a mile from N. W. to S. E. 

 by 200 to 300 yards across ; the water clear, very deep and of a beauti- 

 ful green, Como tint, derived perhaps from the reflected woods. Unlike 

 the other Kumaoon lakes, it is well stocked with large fish ; a circum- 

 stance due to its inferior elevation, being only 3751 feet above Calcutta : 

 this is accompanied by a sub-tropical vegetation, and the small villages 

 in the neighbourhood, Kunialee at the upper, Shewa Kanulla at the 

 lower end, are forsaken in the wet season, from the presence of out or 

 Turaee fever. The lateral mountains fall so abruptly to the water, that 

 much difficulty is experienced in getting round the lake. High above 

 the exit of the Goula, on the N. E. mountain, is the immense scar, 

 called the Mulooa ka Pyhra — "the landslip or rather rockslip of Mu- 

 looa," the fall of which, according to the tradition of the country, 

 formed the lake by damming up the narrow glen : and certainly must 

 have deepened it. The people preserve the usual legend, and even the 

 name (Bhoor Koonda) of the village which was overwhelmed by the 

 landslip ; Mulooa, the owner of this village, shared its fate, and left 

 his name to the Lake. His actual residence here being about as authen- 

 tic as that of Pontius Pilate at the Alban Lake, we may rather search 

 for the meaning of the term in " Mulla," " Malwa" — " high," which 

 the tal is with reference to the Bhabur* 



On the shingle at the upper end of Mulooa Tal, occurred a plant not 

 yet quite in flower, which seemed to be Wallich's Lobelia rosea : 5 to 6 

 feet high : L. pyramidalis is to be seen in the glen of the Bukra below 

 Nynee Tal : and in still greater abundance at 6500 feet on the Eastern 

 face of Jagesur : it is exceedingly acrid. 



December 26. — From Bheemtal over the Gagur Pass to Ramgar 

 Bungalow, 12 miles north. The route keeps along the upper Basin of 

 the Kooa Tal, and leaving Mahra village to the left, ascends to the head 

 of the Shamkhet valley, 5T00 feet above the sea (R. S.), remarkable as 

 forming a depression of 3000 feet between the Eastern or Satchoolia, 

 and the Western or Chcenur line of the Gagur, thus forming the lowest 



