100 Narrative of a Journey to Cho Lagan, $*c- [July, 



thousands of feet above the confluence of the Dhauli or Gori (the river 

 of the Darma valley), with the Kali ; the houses, or huts rather, seem 

 very few and mean. The opposite side of the valley in Doti,* is of the 

 same character. 



Here I find Durga Datt Patwdri,f (Governor, that is,) of Kela, 

 Darma, Chaudans and Byans ; one Khasia% and three Bhotia dis- 

 tricts, containing altogether some fifty villages — on a salary of five 

 rupees per month ; an erratum, one would suppose, for fifty. 



The Patwari informs me that there has been a murrain among the 

 cattle in Darma this year, which has carried off all the kine, and half 

 the goats and sheep ; from the reports which have reached him, he 

 judges that there are not a dozen Zhobus^ left in the whole of Darma, 

 and that I should probably be unable to get half that number for my 

 expedition across the snow. Lata, Budha\\ of Baund, a village of Dar- 

 ma, reported that they had 52 head of cattle in his village last year, 

 and the murrain has destroyed every one of them. The danger of 

 infection still lurking in the villages precludes the introduction of fresh 

 stock from Hundes this year. Under these circumstances I must 

 abandon my intention of going through Darma, as a few baggage cattle 

 are absolutely indispensable for a prolonged expedition across the 

 passes, in which, as we have to avoid villages and inhabited places, 

 myself and party must subsist solely on what provisions, &c. we can 

 take with us. They say also that the road up to Darma is in a very 

 bad state, and in one or two places rendered all but impassable by 

 landslips ; not that it becomes me to be particular in that respect ; 

 my difficulties lie the other side of the snow. 



I had expected to get a tent from the Bhotias here, but I am now 

 told that the people of Darma and Byans have no such luxuries, being 

 content with what shelter they can extemporize with blankets amongst 

 their Karpach (sheep saddle bags). 



* The Province of Nipal which borders on Kumaon. 



t Superintendent of a district in Kumaon. 



$ The Hill-people of the lower Himalaya. 



§ The cross-bred kine between the Yak of Tibet and the Indian cow. 



|| Commonly pronounced Burha, the Headman of a village, or more frequently, a set of 

 villages. This term isequivalcnt to Kumin, Syana, and Tokdar, and is chiefly used in the 

 eastern Pergunnahs of Kumaon. The tenure connected with these titles is called Burha 

 chari, Kumin-chari, &c. 



