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



ascends some hundred feet to the Moonee-moonee pass, on the crest of 

 which there is a fine old newla or covered well, affording cool water, 

 which none of the streams do at this season. From this we descended 

 to the Patia valley, with many hamlets and good cultivation, lying along 

 one of the Binsur streams ; and reached the Kosilla about three miles 

 above Hawulbagh, opposite the neglected temple of Bum sir. One mile 

 on, the road crosses the " Beemoota," a long and narrow rent 50 feet 

 deep, in a stratum of mica slate, and dipping with it N. E. : tradition 

 attributes the chasm to an act of Bheem Singh, which only a Hindoo 

 traveller would commit to paper. About a mile east of Almorah town, 

 500 feet lower, on the open Gwalkakooree ke Dhar, about 400 yards 

 east of the Dhamoo ka Dhoora garden, and south of Buldotee Quarry, 

 Mr. John Strachey, C. S. discovered a smaller pit, also in the mica 

 slate, about five feet deep, from which issues a considerable column of 

 steam, marking the presence of a hot spring beneath. In the cold 

 season, early in the morning this is condensed into vapor, which long 

 since attracted the attention of the townspeople, who ascribe the origin 

 of the phenomenon to this spot being a Sidh ka Sumadhi, or tomb of 

 an ascetic whose body burns with the fervour of divine love. The 

 Khusya population, however, assert that all such hot water is made by 

 Devee. No religious respect is now shown to the spot ; on the 14th of 

 November last, at 6£ a. m. the temperature of the air being 40° ; that 

 of the steam at 5 feet deep was 68° : beyond this it was] impossible to 

 introduce a thermometer, the crevice being too small to admit one's 

 body, and at this depth altering its direction laterally. The growth of 

 grass, ferns, &c, in the mouth of the pit proves that no deleterious gas 

 accompanies the vapor : this test, however, will not hold for Carbonic 

 acid gas. 



