234 Notes of an Excursion to the Pindree Glacier. [March, 



We were told that up near Sooring a tiger was killed within these 

 few years by a pack of the wild dogs, here called Bhonsla ; but even 

 our informant seemed to doubt the truth of the story. Of the bold- 

 ness of these dogs, however, we had no doubt ; they are considered to 

 be Bhugwan's* hounds, and no Shikaree ever thinks of shooting them. 



Mr. Lushington, the Commissioner of Kumaoon, has a bungalow 

 on the bank of the Surjoo opposite Bagesur ; a little above this, the 

 mountains on that side recede in a deep bay, leaving a spacious tract 

 of level ground, on which the fair is held in January, at which period 

 the whole of the Bhoteeah pergunnahs are deserted by their inhabitants, 

 who descend with their flocks to the central portion of the province for 

 warmth and pasture. These people in mien, make, and features, bear 

 a striking resemblance to the Chinese. It is a curious feature in the 

 agricultural economy of Kumaoon that during the same season, almost 

 the entire population of the mountains between Almorah and the 

 plains, descend to the Tarai, where they have cleared very extensive 

 tracts, which are carefully cultivated with wheat, barley, mustard, &c. 

 irrigated with no mean skill and industry by cuts from the various 

 torrents which there debouche on the plains ; while the forests swarm 

 with their cows and buffaloes, which supply them with vast quantities 

 of ghee, the sale of which greatly overbalances the occasional loss of 

 their cattle by wild beasts. The presence of these herds in the forest 

 may be said, to form a sort of safety-valve to the botanist or other 

 explorer of its solitudes, the tigers seldom molesting man when he can 

 obtain beef. The appearance of the young leaves on the Seesoo in 

 April, is the signal for the mountaineers to ascend to their natural 

 homes, where they arrive just in time to cut a second rubbee crop, sown 

 in November ; the only instance within my knowledge of the same 

 farmer enjoying the advantage of two harvests in one season. I may 



* If the mere English reader should ask " who is Bhugwan," he will not be 

 more in the dark than was one of the Secretaries to a certain Board in 1824. Car- 

 riage and supplies were required for the troops in Arrakan, and a native dignitary 

 in Bengal was required to say how much would be forthcoming from his district. 

 " As much as it pleases Bhugwan" was the reply. " Who is Bhugwan," writes 

 the Secretary. "You will be pleased to inform Bhugwan, that if he withholds 

 the requisite aid, he will incur the censure of Government, and assuredly be 

 put down." 



