M6 SURVEY OF THE GANGES; 



tion from the valley) must be eight or nine thousand feet perpendicular: 



The Mundls, or hill pheasants, are found in great numbers among these- 

 hills ; but they keep near the summits, and seldom visit the vallies, unless^ 

 driven down by heavy falls of snow. The mode the natives adopt t<y 

 catch them is by springs, wdth v*'hich they sometimes succeed in taking' 

 them ahve» The hill people put great value on their feathers, which' 

 they preserve with the skin entire. They sometimes make them up into- 

 small hand fans, and we have seen little tufts made up into a knot^ 

 worn as an ornament to a greasy cap: 



5th. Thekm. 6i°. As many of our people were still in the rear; 

 and those who had arrived were extremely fatigued by yesterday's march, 

 we were obliged to halt, very much against our inclination ; for the wea- 

 ther became more cloudy daily, portending what we had so much cause^ 

 to apprehend, the commencement of the rainy season. About five o'clock, 

 came on a violent shower, attended by tliunder and lightning, which lasted 

 for several hours. 



6th, Therm. ^6"-, and weather cloudy. Marched to Ramcni, d.nd 

 encamped in a small field near it, between two rivulets. 



The road this day lay through extensive forests of oak, holly, horse 

 chesnut and fir (Deodar.) The latter differed in its foliage from the. 

 species we had before seen. The leaves are about one and an half or two 

 inches in length, flat, sharply pointed, and produced horizontally on each 

 side of the twig. The bark more smooth, and the stem rises to the 

 height of seventy or eighty feet, with a circumference of seven or eight 

 cubits. This species acquires greater dimensions than any of the firs we 

 have yet met with. The natives call it also Deodar, which is a name 

 they indiscriminately apply to all the different kinds, without having any 



