1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. 609 



converge to a point diametrically opposite to the sun. This rarer phe- 

 nomenon we have twice seen." These, and the haloes so common in 

 the mountains are the original " glories," of Hindoo and Catholic gods 

 and saints. 



Descending to the Suwul river, so named from a village a few miles 

 up, we pass it, at 3927 feet elevation (R. S.) by an iron suspension 

 bridge, called Bisheshur, from an adjacent temple placed at the conflu- 

 ence of a brook from the Huree Doongra. At this bridge of Sighs, 

 the Hindoo dead of Almorah, are first reduced to ashes and then com- 

 mitted to the stream in the hope of their being finally mingled with 

 the holy water of the Ganges, and the ultimate prospect of adding to the 

 extent and the fertility of Bengal : a nobler futurity than the stopping 

 the bung-hole, &c, which Hamlet contemplates as the fate of Alexander 

 and Caesar. The Hindoo does not, however, believe that this is all : 

 the spirits of the deceased, going neither to heaven nor to hell, remain 

 lurking about Bisheshwur, where they are occasionally seen by the 

 " belated peasant," celebrating orgies like those revealed to Tarn 

 O'Shanter, except that matchless Satan is unknown here ; at other 

 times, under the guidance of one Bholanath, on horses, dandees, or 

 foot, they promenade through Almorah with lingering visits to the 

 spots most loved when they were in the flesh — the Buniya's shops. It 

 is not considered either safe or fortunate to meet or even see any of 

 these immaterial pageants, and death is supposed often to follow 

 shortly. Those, however, who survive, affirm, or are believed to affirm, 

 that very many of these ghosts are deficient in one or more members : 

 one has no head, another no feet, and so on, and yet they manage to 

 dance, speak, &c, as well as the rest. This is considered a great won- 

 der : but I explained to my informant that a still greater wonder 

 remained, which was, that after all their members had been dispersed 

 by the elements, any of them should possess head, feet, or any thing 

 else : a difficulty he admitted, but not sufficient to cancel the experience 

 of centuries and of a whole nation. 



The following details belong to another excursion. 



8th May, 1847. — From Almorah, via Hawulbagh to Somesur, 12 

 coss, about 1 8 miles. The road is good, and beyond Hawulbagh keeps 

 along the west or right bank of the Kosilla, passing, beyond the latter 

 place, under spacious cultivated plateaus. The scenery during the 



