SUBATHU AND KOTGERH. - 479 



the common purple hazelnuts, black and red currants, horse chesnuts,* and 

 other wild fruits, the indigenous productions of the country. | 



Two species of oats in the interior of the hills grow spontaneously amongst 

 the wheat and barley fields, and also on waste lands, but the grain is so 

 small that the natives make no use of it, and they seem to be ignorant that 

 it is excellent and nourishing food for cattle, goats, and sheep. 



Two hardy species of rice are cultivated on elevated situations and both 

 are subject to occasional falls of snow. They grow luxuriantly unassist- 

 ed by irrigation. These I believe are yet unknown in botany and the in- 

 troduction of them into Britain, and elsewhere into Europe might prove a 

 valuable and important acquisition. They are both of the coarser sort. 



Kotgerh is in the Pergunna of Sundhoch, one of the divisions of the in- 

 dependent petty state of Kotguru and was ceded to the British Govern- 

 ment for a military post on the conquest of the hill provinces, or shortly 



* These, together with chamus, a root found in the forests and wasfe lands in many elevated parts 

 along the skirts of the Himalaya, and which are likewise the food of the beasts of the forest, the natives, 

 from necessity in times of scarcity and famine are obliged to substitute for food. Both these have a 

 very bitter taste, and to make them palatable, the natives prepare them in the following manner; they 

 are first opened or cut into pieces, then steeped or soaked in water for sometime which deprives fiem of 

 their bitterness : they are afterwards dried in the sun and pounded or ground into a flower, made into 

 cakes and eaten in other ways. This circumstance alone sufficiently shews the precarious and misera- 

 ble subsistence of the wild and uncouth race of people who inhabit the most elevated and savage parts 

 on the hither side of the Himalaya. The fruit of the By mi or Bymbi, whose natural climate is cold and 

 elevated, and where it appears to thrive admirably well, when arrived at a proper state of maturity, is 

 pulled, dried in the sun, and also eaten as food in much the same manner as horse chesnuts and chainus. 

 It is like a prune, but retains its yellowish colour, is sweet and has not an unpleasant taste. 



■\ A few common vegetables, such as cucumbers, a small kind of onion, radishes, and a few others 

 are cultivated by the people. There are besides, several species of wild culinary herbs, in common use 

 amongst the natives, to be found in the forests at different seasons of the year. At the height of 12,000 

 or 13,000 feet, for instance along the top of the Chashil range, a small species of wild onion or leek is 

 very plentiful. 



