fruition of all earthly desire is the crowning glory of a
visit to the sacred places, by which the sins of former
births are cleansed, and exemption from metempsychosis
obtained. Each rock, or rivulet, is dedicated to
some deity, or saint, and has its own appropriate legend.
Nature in her wildest and most rugged forms bears
witness to the correctness of the belief, that here is the
home of the ‘great god’ ” (Atkinson’s “ Himalayan
Districts ” ).
Apart from their religious attributes, this part of
Tibet and the adjoining block of the Himalayan range,
full of snow peaks and giant mountains, are unrivalled
in the whole world for sublime grandeur, for, in the small
area of a strip thirty miles wide along the Kumaon
border, there must be some eighty peaks above
20,000 ft., and standing out boldly above their setting
are Nanda Devi, 25,689 ft., the highest mountain in
British territory throughout the world, and her sister
Kamet, 25,373 ft., her rival in elevation and beauty,
while north of this mass of grandeur lies the tableland
of Tibet, of an average height of 13,000 to 15,000 ft.
above sea level, and dominating all her fellows is Gurla
Mandhata, a gigantic pile, the highest peak of which
is 25,350 ft., visible as a landmark for very many
miles.
This beautiful country, full of sacred associations,
and replete with nature’s greatest and most awe-inspiring
marvels, is inhabited on the British side by a race
named Bhotias, who, intrepid traders as they are, yearly
endure vicissitudes of climate and dangers of mountaineering
which win our admiration for their manly
qualities ; while at the same time, they are a people
who absorb our interest owing to the extremely quaint
manners and customs which still find a place amongst
them in these lonely hills. And beyond them live
the Tibetans, of whom hitherto so little has been known,
with their mysterious religious rites of prayer-wheels
and prayer-flags, their monasteries full of lamas, and
their wizards, who drink blood in cups made of human
TAHSILDAR KHARAK SING, FORMER POLITICAL PESHKAR
( IN f r o n t )
skulls, and eat human bones and skin, and conjure the
spirits of the “ vasty deep ” by means of trumpets of
human thigh-bones and other implements of their
black art.
Having had the good fortune to be posted officially
in the Almora district for some time past, I have been
often thrown in close contact with the interesting people
who live in these grand mountains, and have been able
to study some of their ways, and to get an intimate