1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. 581 



sepoys ; the true source of which was their march through the Burm 

 Deo Turaee in the months of June and July, — an open valley, elevated 

 5330 feet above the sea, or 5830 according to Mr. Trail's estimate, 

 with a soil composed of decomposing granite, could scarcely contain in 

 itself the seeds of disease to such an extent. It is traversed by the 

 Geendia, an affluent of the Lohoo river ; an easy ascent brings the tra- 

 veller to the summit of the Mulsa Deo or Makha Lekh pass, from 

 which the station of Lohooghat is seen about three miles north ; the 

 descent is gentle ; the hills prettily cultivated, and at their base the 

 Lohoo flows in a deep rocky channel : it is passed by a picturesque 

 but ricketty wooden bridge ; a little beyond this, on the left or east 

 bank is the holy shrine of Rikhesur, prettily situated amongst cedar 

 groves, and rejoicing in the privilege of a linga, which has the property 

 of growth. 



The station is a short walk farther, and occupies a pleasant tract of 

 grassy undulating ground, sprinkled with Deodars, and the very neat 

 and English-looking houses and grounds of the European residents. It 

 is calculated to be 5649 feet above Calcutta. The granite of Chumpa- 

 wut here disappears, and gives place to blue clay slate in vertical strata, 

 with some quartz. The ground rises gently towards the north, and at 

 about three miles distance is backed by the grassy saddleback moun- 

 tain called Sooee in maps, but by the natives Jhoom. The summit is 

 reckoned 7500 feet high, and Dr. McClelland quotes it at 8000, and 

 states the rock to be dolomite; Captain Webb at 5910, which must 

 refer to Sooee, a group of villages on its western declivity or base, with 

 a considerable tract of level cultivation, entirely in the hands of a 

 Brahman colony, who are said to traffic advantageously with the Bho- 

 teyas of Dharma and Byans. The road to Pithoragurh passes between 

 the mountain and the villages, where the slopes are beautifully wooded 

 with Cedar. 



The Jhoom mountain is continued far down to the S. E. to Khilpu- 

 tee, by a level, ,voody range perhaps 6500 to 7000 feet high, copiously 

 wooded with Quercus incana and Rhododendron arboreum, &c. ; on this, 

 about 2 miles, N. N. E. of Lohooghat, Mr. Batten, C. S. has a 

 shooting box, called llykot, commanding agreeable walks along the 

 park-like plateaus, with one exception that the solitary wanderer runs 

 a good chance of being picked up by a tiger. 



4 n 2 



