1847.] Notes of an Excursion to the Pindree Glacier. 239 



requires all one's resolution not to scratch them, as in that case they 

 are apt to form bad sores. The only security against these pests con- 

 sists in soaking the stockings in brine ; but where one wades for miles 

 through "fresh-water formations" the salt is soon washed away. The 

 idea prevails in the mountains that these leeches possess the power of 

 springing on their prey : this requires verification, but is not altogether 

 improbable. It is only too certain that by getting into the nostrils of 

 sheep, goats, ponies, &c. they do much mischief by keeping them lean 

 and unhealthy. We also found the small round fly or gnat very trou- 

 blesome here : they give no fair notice of their approach as does the 

 mosquito, and inflict a very irritating bite, for which death is a poor 

 revenge. 



About three miles above Kupkot, there is a good Sanga bridge of 

 two planks, 66 feet long, across the Surjoo, leading to Moongsharee, 

 Milum, and the Oonta Dhoora Pass. The river here receives a large 

 affluent on each bank. At one and half miles from Sooring, the path 

 quits it, and mounting 800 or 1000 feet, we found ourselves at our camp 

 with, as at Kupkot, a number of convenient sheds £oc the servants and 

 coolies, a most welcome piece of hospitality confined, I think, to Kumaoon, 

 but well worthy of introduction elsewhere. Our camp occupies an open 

 spot above Sooring, and below a village called Lohagaon. As water 

 boils at 200°, the elevation is somewhere near 6,700 feet above the sea. 

 A colony of agricultural Bhoteeahs is established in the mountains, 

 which rise steeply above this to the west ; unlike the rest of their 

 race, they never quit their villages, and had never even descended to 

 Bagesur they told us. " The world forgetting, by the world forgot," 

 their talk is of bullocks and bears ; their only visiter is the tax-gatherer, 

 who ferrets out the most determined hermit ; but in this respect the 

 burden of the Kumaoonees is light. 



The scenery across the Surjoo is fine. The Lahour ka Dhoora, so 

 named from a village visible to the north-east rather higher than Sooring, 

 i s bold, lofty, green, and wooded to the summit ; it extends from north 

 to south, and beyond it is the valley of the Ramgunga. From two p. m. 

 we had smart showers for a couple of hours, with a drizzling cloudv 

 afternoon, and more rain at night. It is wonderful how a little 

 experience in Himalayan meteorology opens the understanding with 

 regard to certain doctrines of Hindu Theology : e. g. Vishnu sleeps 



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