1848.] Tke Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. 449 



lasal we came on the fresh ones : it was quite light at the time, and 

 the straw, grass, &c., with which they are covered enabled us to avoid 

 them, though placed right in the path, or so closely on each hand as to 

 leave a very narrow ridge between. The owners are Europeans, and 

 have as yet taken but one young elephant this season ; but the chances 

 improve when the herdsmen quit the forest. The obees are now nearly 

 full of water : they are covered with branches and grass, so thinly 

 towards the centre that a dog belonging to one of my people fell in 

 when crossing. 



Joulasal consists merely of a clearing spacious enough for the huts 

 of a confideration of some 20 villages from the mountain districts of 

 Dhyanee Rao towards Deo Dhoora : about a mile back the mountains 

 form another beautiful bay like amphitheatre leading into the Doorga 

 Peepul Dhoon, 2155 feet above Calcutta, and 12 miles from Joulasal. 

 There is a route hence to Chumpawut via Birgool, and the Sidh ka 

 Dhoora, south of Furka : and another via Koolelgaon on the Ludeea, 

 10 miles on, to Deo Dhoora. The Doorga Peepul Dhoon possesses 

 quantities of Toon timber, which is uncommon in the rest of the Bha- 

 bur : it is cultivated with rice, and amongst its morasses rises a consi- 

 derable branch of the Dewa, which grows by Joulasal on the west. 

 Nanukmutha is called 6 coss south of this. 



In the afternoon moved on to Doogola, 1^ or 2 miles by the path, 

 and thinking to effect this without a guide, we lost our way in the 

 dense Sal forest, and wandered twice that distance. Doogola is a small 

 goth at the foot of the mountains on the high eastern bank of a stream 

 which here leaves them, and flows south. There is a route hence to 

 Suniya by Gungapoor, 2 coss : Deea, 2 coss : Bireea-mujhoula, 1 coss : 

 Kheree nikal, 2 coss : Khetul sanda, I coss : Nougaon, ^ coss : Suniya, 

 1 coss. Suniya is held by the Tharoos, a race who occupy the exterior 

 Turaee, and are said to extend far down to the S. E. The Dewa sepa- 

 rates them from the Boksars, a kindred race to the N. W. These 

 people inhabit this " Belt of death" with impunity by observing two 

 precautions ; one is never to be out after sunset during the malarious 

 season ; the other is to raise their houses on piles, after the manner of 

 the Indo-chinese nations. It seems extremely probable that with this 

 proviso and small grass bungalows and sheds raised 12 or 15 feet about 

 the soil, Europeans and natives of India might pass the Turaee or the 



