1837.] 



The Valley of NepauL 



451 



are sufficiently familiar now-a-days, as they doubtless were in remoter 

 times, is an agency they will not accept of as more likely to have burst 

 asunder the rocky barriers of the lake and given exit to its waters. 

 Humboldt or Jacquemont could probably have solved this interest- 

 ing question. It is remarkable that in no part of the valley are fossil 

 shells of aquatic races to be found, a circumstance sufficiently curious 

 when taken in combination with the opinion of the former state of the 

 country. Dr. Buchanan seems to have assented to the popular notion 

 on the subject, without offering an explanation of his views. It is how- 

 ever certain, that if the narrow passage through which the river now 

 flows did not at any previous time exist, the tract above it, which in- 

 cludes the whole valley, must have been a large lake, formed by the 

 pent up waters of the surrounding hills, which now form the Bisho- 

 mutti and Bagmutti river, with the innumerable tributary streams. Not 

 a drop of water finds exit from the valley, save by this one narrow out- 

 let, which pours its torrents in a southerly direction through the Ma- 

 habharat and lower ranges of hills, into the plains joining the Ganges 

 near Monghyr. The waters from the outer side of the northern, eastern, 

 and western mountainous boundary of the valley, run east and west, the 

 ormer falling into the Koosi, the latter into the Tirsoolgunga of the 

 hills or Gunduck of the plains. The Koosis (for there are several 

 streams bearing this name within the hills east of Cathmandu), 

 unite their waters in the plains, and fall into the Ganges opposite 

 Bhaugulpoor. The Tirsoolgunga reaching the plains at Tirbeni, flows 

 through Sarun to the Ganges, joining the latter river at Hajeepdor. 



Winds, Rain, Pressure of the Atmosphere and Temperature.— 

 Not being at present prepared to give a specific account of the climate 

 of the valley from personal meteorological observations, it will be suf- 

 ficient to indicate generally its character as it has reference to the 

 productions of the soil. 



The most marked characteristics of the valley climate, are its extreme 

 humidity and the irregularity of the winds, as to direction and intensity. 

 The former of these circumstances, arises from the retention of so much 

 water as is required for raising rice crops, together with an annual aver- 

 age fall of 50 inches of rain water ; and the latter, from the high moun- 

 tainous boundary girding the valley, by which the currents of air pass- 

 ing over their summits are prevented from reaching the valley's sur- 

 face, It is often difficult to ascertain correctly from what direction the 



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