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



crop, as an oil-seed : it is probably Sinapis dichotoma, but much resembles 

 Brassica rapa, and the malees all assert that it may be and is converted 

 into the Turnip. 



Several species of sinapis are also grown as salads, turkarees, and 

 condiments, of these : 



"Burlai" is S. ramosa : " Raee" of N. India : S. rajika, from raj, 

 to shine : very appropriate to the whole genus in flower : or from raji a 

 row, a line, in which they succeed much better than in plots. 



" Bhotiya-raee :" " Badshahee-lai ;" S. rugosa. Introduced by the 

 Gorkhas, and greatly valued. They also brought from Nepal another 

 "Badshahee-lai," called " Kurm-kulla," probably S. brassicata: but it 

 has disappeared. This species is nearly allied to S. ramosa. It has 

 been introduced to the Dehra Dhoon. 



" Raee." " Mukura-raee" (Tarantula mustard) of Hindoostan : the 

 " Surshuf" of the hospitals, where this species is employed : the seeds 

 and the leaves being exceedingly pungent. It is not described in 

 the Flora Indica, but approaches S. erysimoicles : and is probably 

 S. , . near S. nigra : S. sinensis in Ainslie's Mat. Med. 



" Doowa." " Chara." Eruca sativa : comes up accidentally with 

 the above : but is not cultivated. 



The " Khurbee" or autumnal Harvest, comprizes a less valuable but 

 more numerous catalogue, on which depends generally the subsistence 

 of the lower classes.* 



Oryza sativa : " Dhan." The rice is sown about the middle or end 

 of April, either in beds, " Khiaree," from which it is transplanted ; or 



* About the middle of July, (on the 1st of Sawun) is celebrated the greatest of the 

 Khushia festivals, known as the " Huriyala," a name marking the universal verdure and 

 the appearance of the ear in the corn at this season. This occasion embraces both har- 

 vests, small patches of wheat and the other rubbee grains being raised purposely ; so that 

 bouquets of all the cerealia and leguminosae (Mundooa and Bhut excepted) may be pre- 

 sented to the gods. On this day, also, the mountaineers generally deck their own heads 

 with a few blades of corn, exactly as the shamrock and leek are worn in Ireland and 

 Wales, originally, perhaps, for the same reason. 



On the 1st day of the Indian Bacchanalia (the Holee) about the middle of March, the 

 Gorkhas of the Kumaoon Battalion, proceeding to the East, deposit some coins, &c. at the 

 foot of a wild Pear tree, which is afterwards cut down, and ornamented with innumera- 

 ble shreds of red cloth, (from which it is called the Cheer,) is carried in procession and 

 planted in front of the lines with boisterous merriment : and is sung and danced round 

 daily till the orgies are over : it is our own May-bush precisely, the pear-tree being no 

 doubt chosen for the same reason of its being then in full blossom, 



