572 The Turaee mid Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. [June, 



Poonagiri temples the Byb or Babur grass (Eriophorum carmabinum) 

 is abundant, and does not appear to flourish at much lower levels. 



Nothing can surpass the variety and beauty of the scenery about 

 Poonagiri : nature absolutely revels in the luxuriance of the universal 

 vegetation, which no American forest, north or south, can possibly 

 exceed ; but to superstition alone are we indebted for a path through 

 and over the otherwise impassable thickets and precipices. The first 

 symptom of sanctity in the wilderness is a small Murhee, dedicated to 

 Bhairoo, or Muhadev, considered as his own door-keeper ; here the 

 pilgrims leave their shoes ; and no man of low caste, of notoriously bad, 

 or even unfortunate character, or filthy in person or discourse, is know- 

 ingly allowed to advance further. Coming under the first, at least, of 

 these predicaments, I had arrived within a few hundred yards of the 

 small village of Toonias, the residence of the 20 — 30 Poojarees who do 

 the honors of the place, when, to my astonishment, I was assailed by 

 the whole crew, loudly proclaiming that the shrine was deserted by my 

 intrusion, that no European had ever approached it before, and demand- 

 ing, in a very insolent, and almost violent manner, my immediate re- 

 turn. I assured them that such was impossible during the heat of the 

 day, after a three hours' walk ; that I certainly should not descend till 

 I had breakfasted and looked about ; and that the mountain was mine 

 as much as theirs. They were exceedingly angry ; but we at length 

 effected a pacification by the compromise that I was not to go nearer 

 than a hundred yards to any of the temples, and that I was to offer a 

 bottle of cognac to the goddess, in default of a goat, which was not to 

 be had, and about which I demurred, though they alleged the example 

 of sundry sahibs, who had sent proxies for this purpose. On the 

 contrary, I expressed my horror and disgust at the custom of polluting 

 the hill-tops and groves, with the gore of miserable bleating kids and 

 goats, which must have a tendency to brutalize the character, to recon- 

 cile and familiarize the mind with bloodshed and murder, and to foster 

 the pernicious sentiment that the gods are necessarily pleased when- 

 ever themselves and their priests are stuffed with roast-meat. A most 

 furious altercation among themselves, which lasted about two hours, 

 respecting the division of the spoils of my followers and other pilgrims, 

 was the corollary to this homily. 



Toonias Hamlet lies in a sheltered glen about 200 feet below the 



