1857.] Proceedings oftlie Asiatic Society. 309 



cussion of the identity of Mount Everest with Deodangha, I have 

 paid a good deal of attention to the question. 



There are no means of knowing the position of Deodangha beyond 

 what are given by Mr. Hodgson. These consist 1st of an Itinerary 

 by the two Nepaulese Embassies to Pekin, and 2nd of a paper on the 

 seven Kosis, 3rd, several assertions for which no evidence is produc- 

 ed in a letter to the Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



As regards the first, or the itineraries, I believe no person who 

 has had any surveying experience can doubt their being absolutely 

 useless as evidence of any thing but the existence of a Pass called 

 Bhairava Langur. Mr. Hodgson supplies the information that it is 

 identical in name with the adjacent mountain, which is, I conclude, 

 derived from information. It is absolutely necessary for using a 

 Route Survey that both bearings and linear distances should be 

 given. The former in these routes are totally deficient. The latter 

 are given along the road, which in mountainous countries would 

 only be useful, had nature so formed the passes that they should all 

 lie in a straight line and be reached one from another by a nearly 

 level straight line. The document in question bears evidence that 

 this is not the case, for by the route distance (117 miles) Mount 

 Everest is far within Bhairava Langur, and this assumes the iden- 

 tity of their directions. If the itinerary is competent to determine 

 the position of Bhairava Langur, it is equally so to determine that 

 of Pekin, and Mr. Hodgson would do Geometers a service by explain- 

 ing the process. 



In a note to page 478 of No. VI. of the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal, Mr. Hodgson says that Bhairava Langur is 

 visible from the confines of Nepaul Proper as a great mass. Now it 

 is demonstrable that the summit of Mount Everest is not visible 

 from Katmandu or any part of the valley of Nepaulas a conspicuous 

 or recognizable prominence, if indeed it at all tops the intervening 

 snowy range. Mr. Hodgson also asserts that it is visible from the 

 frontiers of Sikkim. It certainly is not visible from Kanglauamo, 

 13,000 feet high, being shut out by the shoulder of our peak XIII., 

 and it is evident that the same result will be true all along the 

 Singalilah range as far as Tonglo. I know that Mr. Hodgson 

 asserts that it has no competitor for notice, but sound Geometry 



