OF KAMAON. 23 



vicinity of villages, generally on the summit of some height ; distinguished 

 individuals are further honored by images of silver or stone, and by the 

 annual celebration of festivals, on days dedicated to the purpose, when 

 the image is carried in procession about the village, and receives offer- 

 ings and worship. Among the Darma Bhotias, when an individual dies 

 absent from his native village, a clue of worsted is conducted to it from 

 the spot where death occurs. In families of consideration, the thread is 

 extended unbroken throughout ; by the poorer classes, it is only laid, in 

 cases of considerable distance, along difficult parts of the road ; the object 

 of this superstition is to enable the departed soul to join the spirits of 

 his ancestors. Suttees occasionally take place in Juwar. 



The original languages of Bitot have been previously noticed, they 

 are current only in verbal intercourse, as scarce an individual is to be found 

 in Bitot capable of reading or writing the Tibet, while of the Darma dia- 

 lect, it does not appear that any characters were ever in use. In the 

 Mdna, Niti, and Juwar passes, the Hindustani has become naturalized, 

 and forms the medium of both colloquial and written communications ; 

 in Darma, it is also current, though not so generally; in Byanse, it has 

 hitherto made only a partial progress, as the necessity for its acquisition 

 commenced at a recent period. 



In the division of time, the Hindu method is followed exclusively. 



In weighing and measuring commodities, the Bhotias have necessa- 

 rily two modes of computation, that of the hills and that of Tibet; 

 the former has been noticed in a preceding report ; of the latter, it will be 

 sufficient to enumerate the denominations which are in most common 

 use. 



Gram, 



