1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. 607 



hence direct to Dol, situated in the Murhoree Putee, which includes 

 Peorah, and belongs to Kedarnath temple. 



Dol is a petty hamlet on the spur below the bungalow ; still farther 

 down, in the various glens to the east, are scattered the villages of 

 Salim, celebrated for its excellent rice. A little north of the bungalow, 

 rises the eastern branch of the Koomnia river, with the road to Almo- 

 rah, on its right or eastern bank ; 3 coss from this, at the junction of 

 the S. E. or main branch, stands the rather famous shrine of Kuplesh- 

 wur, with a large temple of Muhadev, built by Oodiot Chund, son of 

 Baj Buhadoor, on the north bank at the exact spot where Kupila 

 Moonee did penance in days of yore, kept in countenance, across the 

 junction, by no less a personage than Seshnag, the serpent king, who 

 was similarly engaged. There is scarcely a confluence of two streams 

 in the mountains, where, for a recondite reason, Muhadev is not wor- 

 shipped. The present site is a narrow Pine-clad glen, just at the end 

 of the cultivated lands ; a mile lower down, the Koomnia forces its way 

 amidst great smooth boulders of granite, the debris of the mountains 

 above ; here, on its south bank, facing Roulakot, is a huge outburst of 

 granitic masses, piled one over another to the height of 150 feet ; the 

 highest and most external, shaped like the beak of an anvil, is known 

 as the Birdeo. The place is about four miles from Choumoo village, 

 near Dheeakot, between Almorah and Peorah. Placed thus at the 

 fountains of water, Dol also merits a temple to the winds, which blow 

 here so generally and strongly that one is tempted to believe an enemy 

 must have sown the Hornbook of storms under the foundations. A 

 Buniya presides here over a temple of Ceres, in which the worshippers 

 are earnest and numerous. 



28th March. — To Almorah, 15 miles : the first 9 pretty level, and 

 then a dip of 2500 feet from Bandunee Devee to the Suwul river, and 

 a rise of 1500, by a bad, rocky, warm road, to Almorah. About six 

 miles from Dol, leave that village, a little to the south, 6200 feet above 

 Calcutta ; soon afterwards Almorah comes into view from the pass 

 called Goona Panee, by which we enter on the north face of Bandunee 

 Devee mountain, and lose sight of Kana Deo, Jhoom, and Thakil. 

 Fifteen or twenty years since, all this was thick forest, but the hewers 

 of wood from Almorah have now left little beyond some scrubby oak, 

 Dul (Cedrela serrata) Rhus semialata, an unknown olea with very bitter 



