1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. 565 



Madder : " Munjeeth," 4 annas per Puseeree. 



Kaephul bark (Myrica sapida,) 2 pice per ditto. 



Tuj bark (Cinnamomun albiflorum,) 1 ana per ditto. 



Tuj leaf. Ii ditto ditto. 



r small : 20 to 30 score per rupee. 



Bamboos < medium. 6 ditto ditto, 



'-large. 2 ditto ditto. 



Soapstone : " Khuree." Probably from the Thahil. 



Kuth, Catechu, 6 rupees per mun. 



This traffic will be terminated in a week or two, as the mountaineers 

 cannot stand the heat : the Kuth manufacture, however, goes on till the 

 setting in of the rains : the workmen, who are all Dooms, called 

 " Khyrees," from the Acacia catechu, then retire to the hills till De- 

 cember, and Nuthoo Mull retreats to Peleebheet. During the season, 

 one portion of the Khyrees is constantly employed in cutting down the 

 best trees, and for these they have to search far in the jungles : only 

 those with abundance of red heartwood will answer. This is chopped 

 into slices a few inches square. Under two large sheds are the furnaces 

 shallow, and with a slightly convex clay roof, pierced for 20 ordinary 

 sized Kedgree pots : these are nearly filled with chips : and water is 

 then poured in and boiled, till the contents of twenty will only fill two 

 pots ; which takes place in about an hour and a half. The liquor 

 resembles thin, light Port, and the Kuth crystallizes on leaves and 

 twigs thrown into it for the purpose : each pot yields about a ser : of 

 an ashy white color. The work is carried on for 20 hours out of the 

 24, by relays of women and children : the men merely preparing the 

 wood ; this after being exhausted, is turned to account as fuel. Each 

 furnace pays a tax of 4 rupees per annum to Government. 



Nuthoo Mull informed me that the open bed of the river exposed to 

 the full force of the wind, is the only ground tenable during the hot 

 season, and that at the expense of much fever. Wherever from the 

 contour of the mountains, or the screen of the forest, the wind is 

 excluded, the climate is deadly. All agree that in advancing eastward, 

 the Turaee becomes more unhealthy ; a fact more to be attributed to 

 its increased moisture and denseness of vegetation than to any addition 

 of dimension : for it appears from Kirkpatrick that the Nepal forest is 

 not above 1 miles wide. 



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