CHAPTER IV
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BHOTIAS
On our journey from Askot to Khela we had followed
what is the prescribed route for Hindu pilgrims, as
found in their sacred books, and it was impossible,
therefore, not to enter in some measure into those
feelings of the devotee which he must necessarily
experience as he nears the wonderful country so sacred
to his gods. Khela itself is about 5000 ft. high, and,
on leaving it, one descends over one thousand feet,
and then begins to climb what is veritably “ the steep
ascent of heaven ” ; for one rises 5000 ft. in direct
ascent to the next camp at Tithila, which is situated in'
what may be called, “ The Holy Land,” as described
in the last chapter. This is Chaudans, the country of
the Bhotias, and one immediately realises that it is
a, different country, inhabited by a totally different
people, whose faces, religion, dress, and surroundings
are entirely at variance with all that is to be found
further south.* We are amongst Mongolians, amongst
women who, like the little Japanese, laugh at everything
and everybody, and do not rush away to' hide,
or draw their veils over their faces as the Southerners :
we are amongst prayer-flags, chortens, and prayer-
poles, where stone pillars fend off spirits and ghosts
from the homestead, where men whistle to the sheep
* For further details vide “ The Bhotias of Almora and British Garhwal,”
by the Author (Asiatic Society of Bengal Memoirs, i. 8 ).
and goats which carry precious burdens on their backs,
and sneeze at the ponies or mules which they ride,
and where yaks and jibboos replace the homely cattle
of the lower hills. I t is a strange country which charms
PRAYER-FLAGS AND CHORTENS OF BHOTIAS
at first sight, and for which one forms a singular attachment,
that never grows cold.
The mass of the population of the Almora and
Garhwal districts belongs to the Khasia -race, and
speaks a dialect of Hindi closely related to the language
of Rajputana. The root Khas, or Kho, is found in the
names Khophene, Khoas, Khoaspes, given to the rivers