18 BHOTIA MEHALS 



No volcano is positively known to exist, but there are grounds for sus- 

 pecting that the Nanda Devi peak contains something of the kind ; the 

 JBhotias and natives of the neighbouring districts bear unanimous testi- 

 mony to the occasional appearance of smoke on its summit: this is attri- 

 buted by them to the actual residence of a deity, and has, accordingly, in- 

 vested that peak with particular sanctity. A religious Mela is held every 

 twelfth year, at the highest accessible point, which is, however, about a 

 mile from the summit : further progress is rendered impossible by a wall 

 of perpendicular ice. The dangers and difficulties incurred by the pilgrims 

 are represented as most appalling, and of the many hundreds who start at 

 each successive period, not fifty find courage to complete the enterprise. 

 Under these circumstances, it is scarcely possible that the question of a 

 crater can be ever decided by actual inspection. It is but just to add, 

 that the extreme altitude of this peak, (already noticed) joined to its 

 monolithic appearance, might, independent of any other considerations, 

 have rendered it sacred in Hindu Mythology. 



Personal appearance, language, religion, customs, and tradition, all 

 unite in pointing the origin of the present inhabitants to the adjoining 

 Tartar province of Tibet. 



In the Mana, Niti, Jinvar, and JByanse passes, the principal Bhotias 

 still trace the emigration of their individual ancestors from some one of 

 the villages or towns in that quarter. The colonization of these Ghats, 

 would not appear to have taken place simultaneously throughout their 

 extent : the first body of emigrants established itself in the villages at the 

 mouth of the Ghat from which the Hindu occupants were forcibly dri- 

 ven, the remaining villages were settled by succeeding adventurers at dif- 

 ferent intervals, and migration continued to be directed thither till the 

 final dismemberment of the Himalaya chain from Tibet. The intimate 



intercourse 



