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



to these soon succeeds the beautiful glen of Rupkot, splendidly culti- 

 vated with rice, mundooa, &c. in the centre of which we halted at noon, 

 in a grove of tall Silung trees — but had not time to pitch our tents, 

 or put the camp kettle in trim for breakfast, when the exceedingly 

 sultry forenoon was succeeded by a heavy storm of wind and rain, 

 which poured down for two hours, and made us excessively uncomfort- 

 able, the ground being already swampy from the rice fields close by. — 

 When the clouds cleared off, we found ourselves in a most romantic 

 little valley, the Bingen of the Surjoo, from one half to two miles long, 

 and about half as wide, from 4,000 to 4,500 feet above the sea, enclosed 

 by a belt of gently swelling and diversified mountains, covered with a 

 beautiful vegetation, the Cheer Pine feathering the summits. The village 

 is on its western edge, close under the sloping mountains, about 150 

 feet above the river and half a mile from it ; several smaller ham- 

 lets are scattered over the plain, each with its groves of trees, among 

 which the plantain is conspicuous," producing large and excellent fruit. 

 The more solid supplies are also abundant ; and the people, the most 

 civil and obliging in the hills, instructed by the example of Chintamun, 

 the old Putwaree, a more perfect gentleman than whom it would not 

 be easy to find. The climate he represents greatly better than at 

 Bagesur. A bold peak called Chirput, raises its head on the north side 

 of the valley, on this bank of the Surjoo, and to the right of this, 

 up the glen of that river, there is a near view of several snowy peaks 

 the most prominent among them being the so-called Nunda Kot, east 

 of Pindree. The Surjoo, now falling, was rather muddy. On our 

 return though unfordable, its waters were clear as crystal, blue as 

 sapphire, and sparkling in long reaches under a brilliant sun it 

 seemed the most beautiful as it is one of the most sacred of Himalayan 

 rivers. 



rock, forest of Ber," point to the same fact : but as no Zizyphus could exist in that 

 climate (they scarce reach Almorah), the spiny tree, Hippophae salicifolia, may be 

 intended : or the name has been altered from Bhudr ; " Happiness, prosperity, 

 Mt. Meroo." I once suggested these difficulties, with my own solutions, to a 

 biahmun who had visited the spot. He honestly avowed, that so far from Ber 

 trees growing there, there were, as far as he ?aw, no trees or bushes of any kind ; 

 but with an orthodoxy worthy of a better cause, he insisted that the genuine, Ber 

 must be there, since the Poorans said so, to doubt which would be Nastikee 

 (Atheism). The deceivers have merged into the deceived ! 



