f>rO The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. [June, 



Opposite to Moonias Mundee the Gorkhas have their mart, called 

 Sooa Mundee, built irregularly on the stony bed of the river, and 

 backed by a high bank of clay and gravel, on which grows the forest. 

 The situation is inconvenient and confined : much less business going 

 on than on our side, where there are no duties. The Gorkha govern- 

 ment farms its duties here for 24,000 rupees per annum they told me. 

 They keep here a party of 25 Sepoys, apparently Dotee men, under a 

 Soobadar ; the authorities and the people were very civil in showing me 

 over the mart, but the former will not admit further progress : in truth, 

 as there is nothing but forest and mountain, there is, save to the natu- 

 ralist, no great inducement to wander. The civil authorities were in 

 Kucheree, but seemed to have little or nothing to do ; yet on our side 

 the general impression is that crimes and outrages of every description 

 are rife, and meet little check or redress in the Gorkha territories. 

 Our people occasionally complain of the delays of the Courts, and the 

 corruption of the native officials, who always side with the longest 

 purse, but no one can travel over India and enquire amongst the mass 

 of the people without finding a very generally expressed opinion of the 

 superiority of the English rule ; and, in native states, a frequent wish 

 to come under it. " Is the rule of the Gorkhas returned ?" is the 

 usual exclamation in Kumaoon where a person thinks himself wronged. 



A cursory examination of the forests about Burm Deo and Poonagiri 

 discloses a number of interesting plants : and probably the glen of the 

 Kalee up to Ascot would aiford many novelties. 



Xanthoxylon Connaroides 1 W. and A. arboreous : near the Bitreegar. 



Petalidium Barlerioides : " Bukroula." 



Eranthemum nervosum, 



Strobilanthes auriculata : i( Til-kupooree." 



Phlogacanthus thyrsiflorus. 



Gouania nepalensis, Wallich. 



Acacia " Khyn :" an armed tree with the blossoms of the Khyr and 

 the fruit of the Siris : wood excellent. 



Inga bigemina : " Kuchlora," a large and useful timber tree. 



Symplocos spicata : «' Lodh," a large tree. The pitcher-shaped, 

 ribbed seeds, called " Bholia," are worn in necklaces by children at 

 Almorah to preserve them from ghosts, &c. 



Annona squamosa : " Behe," most abundant in the swamps. 



