622 The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon. [June, 



Birchoola form a considerable stream which joins the Ramgunga, a few 

 miles short of which it passes through a crater-like cavity, now nearly 

 dry, but full in the rains, called the Turag ke Tal, or Lake of the Pool. 

 It is seen from Boora Pinnath, and is 4028 feet above Calcutta. Mr. 

 Batten found that this pool owns its existence to a high natural dyke of 

 limestone conglomerate, through which the stream flows by a series of 

 caverns, from one of which it issues in a fine cascade. 



Beyond Gopalkot, the Birchoola range is crossed by the Burm Deo 

 Chheena, which is the pass between Byznath and the Ramgunga ; I 

 only followed it for about three miles to a spot where the " Duree 

 Panee," a good spring, rises close to the summit level and sends a stream 

 towards the Turag ke Tal ; from this point we dipped by a pathless and 

 extremely steep fall of a thousand feet to the apparent source of the 

 Kosilla, now perfectly waterless, nor, for two or three miles down does 

 its bed contains any thing but occasional pools. Hereabouts we came on 

 several traces of bears and tigers, and on the half eaten carcase of a 

 deer. The woods are so dense, as quite to exclude the sunbeams, 

 with thickets of hill bamboo, &c. almost impenetrable. In a few miles, 

 the course of the river becomes no longer practicable ; the stream 

 entering an extremely narrow and deep gorge, in which it flows for two 

 or three miles, till it emerges on the valley of Pinnath ; on each side of 

 the entrance, the quartzose strata rise vertically and form two grand 

 and most jagged portals, the bases of which as well as the gorge itself, 

 are exquisitely wooded. The Kosilla here pierces the bearing of the 

 range from Doonagiri N. E. These rocks are known by the name 

 Sutulia or Chetulia, which is that of the mountain here forming the 

 left bank, to the summit of which, at least a thousand feet above the 

 river, we gradually ascended, by a very narrow path, with vertical 

 steeps beneath ; this is called the Shookona pass. The summit com- 

 mands a beautiful view of Pinnath valley to the S. E. on the left hand, 

 and in front stretches the spacious and level valley of Kuthoor or 

 Kutyoor, with Byznath in the centre, at the junction of the Gurool 

 with the Gaomutee river. The elevation is 3545 feet above Calcutta ; 

 the climate is said to be hot, and the air unhealthy : yet the cultivation 

 seems extensive, and is said in former days to have reached far up the 

 neighbouring hills, now covered with Pine. The place is still distin- 

 guished by the finest temples in Kumaoon, though much ruined by 



