5/6 The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. [June, 



dreams of the Shasters, nothing of the past, assured me that we were 

 safe for I know not how many thousand years. On such occasions 

 one is inevitably reminded of the aphorism stamped by the quotation 

 of Alexander — a fair guesser is the best prophet — as well as of the 

 famous Divining Ape of Master Peter, who, as his owner candidly 

 admitted, told much more concerning things past than things to come. 

 It is, fortunately for human responsibility, a mark of authentic prophe- 

 cies to be so obscure before the event, and very frequently even after 

 it, that it is impossible for the agents to discover that they are merely 

 performing what had been written of them ages previous to their birth ; 

 but Hindoo prophets thought differently, and if my Brahmans were 

 not lying or deceived, the rise and progress of the English in India is 

 detailed in their books with a minuteness surpassing even the notices 

 of the kings of the north and south ; of our decline and fall, distant as 

 they are, they politely omitted all discussion. The pilgrims begin to 

 arrive here in November, and the Teeruth ends in April. 



14th March. — To Belkhet, 13 miles, over the Byala or Bylchheena 

 Pass ; the road gradually rises, with several interruptions where tor- 

 rents occur ; pass Chundrabun, a deserted Goth, marked by a large 

 Peepul tree : then the Bitreegar nudee, carrying a good stream of 

 brilliant water ; next, Tula and Mula Huh, two small, cultivated, crater- 

 like depressions ; and, a little higher, the Toongagar stream. In 

 this neighbourhood there are said to be some small tarns called Shiala, 

 which I did not visit. At the Toongagar the road becomes excessively 

 bad, very indifferently lined, and almost blocked up by large angular 

 boulders. A steep, and at this season very hot ascent, leads to the 

 crest of the Bylchheena Pass, from 4000 to 4500 feet above the sea. 

 Near the summit, Mr. Lushington, the Commissioner, has constructed 

 a Noula or covered well, which affords the fainting coolee a very wel- 

 come and necessary refreshment. A favorite Dhurmm, or good work 

 amongst the richer natives of the mountains, is to pay a man of good 

 caste to station himself in such sites as this, and supply gratis, without 

 distinction of caste, a cup of cold water to every passenger ; the custom 

 is known also in the plains, and is said to be founded on the express 

 precept of the Shasters ; it seems unknown to those who in Europe and 

 elsewhere declaim so volubly and so ignorantly against the selfishness 

 of the Hindoo nation. 



