Kalsee into Jounsar, and through the Keearda Doon by Nahun to Subattoo. This description is of the passes in their natural state. ROADS. 12. The roads were till a short time only foot-paths, but since an officer has been resident here, he has with some convicts and liberal aid from Government, made some very good roads. From Shorepoor Choki (at the Doon mouth of the Kheree pass) to Rajpoor through Dheree, 15 miles have been made. From Dheree to Hurdwar is 31 miles, 20 of which is over a new line, over a steep hill. The old road for this part was 23 miles, and crossed 34 streams, some of which were very rapid and full of large stones: the Sohun was crossed twice. Of the whole, nearly 20 miles are finished, and it is hoped the remainder will be by next season of 1827-28. In addition to this, about 5 miles in different places have been made; also about 6 miles by the villagers, which mode of constructing roads is encreasing; as by a little persuation, they seeing the advantages, very willingly work on them, only asking for the loan of tools, and a man to show them how the road is to be made. 13. The new roads now most required are from Dheree to Synspoor, and thence branching to Kalsee and Rajghat, from Dehree to Nagul, and from Hurdwar to Rekikes. In the Pergunnah of Chandee also there is probably room for much good in the roadmaking department. 14. There are two roads estimated for, and authorized by Government, now constructing under Lieut. Debude, of the Engineers: one is round the Hurdwar pass, and is finished as far as was authorized; but it should be carried on for about a mile more at each end, to make the work complete, as those parts are with difficulty passable after heavy rain. The estimate was 8,000 rupees in addition to tools and gunpowder from the Government stores, and the services of a non-commissioned officer and six of the sappers to superintend the mining, which may be reckoned at 4,000 rupees more. The road is three-quarters of a mile long; almost the whole of it is either cut through rock, or supported by a steep stone wall built for that purpose: two bridges of masonry, but of no great size, were also found necessary. 15. The other is through the Kheree pass, which is 7 miles long. For four miles and three-quaters of this, the sum of 12,000 rupees was authorized; the road is now in progress, but it will cost probably more than the sum allowed. It will, however, be a most useful work; but as this subject will shortly be brought before Government more at detail, it is needless enlarging now. The mode in which this road was attempted to be made, is however worth noting. In one place, the officer in charge of the Doon, observed the centre of the water course raised so as to be rarely covered with water, which made its way in a channel at each side; the idea struck him that if a road could be so constructed it would be practicable at all seasons of the year. It was out of the question to make a road at either side of the river bed, unless at a most enormous expense; for in some places many feet, in one not less than a hundred, of perpendicular rock must have been cut through, and the immense number of tributary streams would have required an equal number of bridges. The road was made accordingly on the above principle, and found to succeed completely near the upper part of the water course; but towards the lower end the current of water in the rains is too great to admit of it. This part being, however, pretty level, is rendered passable for nine months of the year by re moving all the large stones and leaving a bed of gravel immediately after every rainy Near the crest the road is still much too steep and should be improved. season. BRIDGES. 16. There are no bridges in the province, with the exception of two small ones lately built by Government, over a ravine near Dehra, and those on the road near Hurdwar just mentioned. FERRIES. 17. One at Rajghat on the Jumna, leading into the Kearda Doon, two over the Ganges, one at Chandee, the other at Dialwalee, 13 miles below Hurdwar: all these have good boats fit to transport carts and heavy baggage. Two others on the Ganges at Lukurghat and Rekikes, but they are only canoes. The Jumna opposite Kalsee is fordable except in the rains, when temporary rafts are made; about two miles below, it receives the Giree Gunga, and a mile below the Tonse; both come from the opposite side: the Tonse is a larger river than the Jumna, and is always crossed in a boat. It has been said that the Ganges being so full of islands, is in some places occasionally rendered fordable. The only permanent ferries are those at Chandee on the Ganges and Rajghat on the Jumna; at the others, boats are not always to be found, but are sometimes kept up by the neighbouring villagers, and at Dialwala by the farmer of the forest produce duties. The traffic at these places is not sufficient to support boats regularly. HOUSES. 18. The houses of the Doon are chiefly grass huts: some few are built of unburnt bricks. The natives had an absurd idea, that mud walls built by the hand or "en pise” would not stand; but the English residents have shown the contrary by building in this way; they are partially getting into the practice. The only masonry houses (exclusive of the temples, and the English houses) are three at Dehra, one at Rajpoor and three or four at Rekikes belonging to two Brahmins, the rest to shop-keepers: there is one at the Doon side of the town of Hurdwar, the property of a zemindar in the Doon, who, however, was only enabled to build it by having married the only daughter of a rich Sikh Surdar it is the only house forming part of Hurdwar situated within the limit of the Doon, and like all the other houses at Hurdwar, merely a country house for the fair time. It certainly is amusing to see the contrast in the immense sums laid out in these Hurdwar country houses, and at Kunkul, two miles off, some of which have cost thirty or forty thousand rupees each, and which the owner sees perhaps for a few days once in five or six years, and the comparatively miserable huts they are content with at home; but fashion and prejudice will do wonders. The houses of the hill division annexed to the Doon, and some few in the valley itself, are built of stone, as is the hill custom, but chiefly thatched, a few being slated; some few are upper-roomed, and a very few in the town of Dehra have tiled roofs. TEMPLES. 19. There are but few temples: the handsomest is that at Dehra, which is a Sikh temple, founded by Gooroo Ram Roy, as above mentioned, in 1756 Sumbut, A. D. 1700. It is an enclosed square, with a gate in the centre of each wall. In the area are five buildings, one in the centre and one at each corner, built in commemoration of the Gooroo's four wives, at a short distance from it: they are built of brick, plastered over and painted in imitation of mosaic, and though not large, are neat, and the whole together, being well clothed with trees, has a retired, quiet appearance well suited to religious feelings. In the centre building is the bed of Gooroo Ram Roy. In its structure the building has more of the Moossulman than Hindoo style of architecture. The establishment all live in detached houses. 20. There is a very neat temple at Rekikes, and a small one at the village of Khurkuree near Hurdwar, and some others in different parts of the valley; but none of them have any thing in their appearance particularly worth describing. 21. Although not a temple, the holy spot of Sostro Darra (or thousand drippings) must not be forgotten. It is often called Sansedara (which may perhaps be a corruption Sungsar Dara, the world of drippings.) It is formed by a small stream, which at its junction with another, falls over a perpendicular rock about 30 feet high. The stream is strongly impregnated with lime, which leaves a crust on every thing on which it falls. This has gradually accumulated on the edge of the rock till it projects and forms a shallow cave, but as trees, bushes, and grass have grown on the edge of the rock, and in the earth brought down and deposited in the accumulation of lime, the water now instead of falling over the rock drips through the accumulated mass (of perhaps ages) in thousands of streams, some as large and some larger than very heavy rain, whence its name. It is a most beautiful natural object, and at certain hours at particular seasons is rendered more so by an artificial rainbow caused by the rays of the sun falling upon the light drippings and spray. 22. Every stick, leaf or blade of grass which it touches becomes a petrifaction: perhaps not strictly speaking such, for the mode in which they appear to be formed, is by a crust of lime surrounding the substance in the first instance: this gradually eats away the inside, which is filled up with the incrustation of lime. There are enumerable stalactiles hanging from the roof of the cave, and the ground underneath is covered with stalagmite, so hard that the blows of a strong man with a heavy sledge hammer are requisite to break it. The breadth of the part through which the water drips, including the above and another smaller cave, is perhaps twenty yards. 23. Like all uncommon objects, it is a place of teeret or holy pilgrimage; a lump of stalagmite in the smaller cave, passing for Măhă Deo. The pilgrimages made to it are not more than sufficient to give a subsistence to two poor Brahmins, who reside at the village of Nagul, a mile off, and attend on those who pass through to visit the spot. The English visitants are much the best customers, as they pay more for specimens of the petrifactions than the Hindoos do for the Brahminical ceremonies attendant on bathing. Joining the larger stream, on the opposite side to the dripping rock, is one strongly impregnated with sulphur, which has by some been said to resemble the Harrogate water. This stream also petrifies sticks, leaves, &c. FAIRS. 24. Of these there are but few, and those very poor. The best is the Hoolee fair held at Dehra. It is chiefly frequented by the Sikhs, and the average number of people is perhaps three to four thousands. It lasts about nine days, during which time some of the people go to and return from Hurdwar. When the Dehra fair breaks up, most of the assembly go home, but some few wait for the Hurdwar fair. Very little merchandize is brought, chielly consisting of hard-ware, cloth and a few ornaments; the goods are of the coarsest description. At Chundermunee and some other places, a small fair is held occasionally, that is, a few of the Doon people, chiefly the women and children, go and bathe there. At Rekikes and Tupobun a small collection of people takes place after the Hurdwar fair; it consists almost entirely of those who go from the latter to Budree and Kedarnath, Gungotree and Jumnotree, and other holy places in the hills: some to only one, some to more, some to all. FORTS. 25. There is no fort now left in the province; but the remains of several are just visible, built by the Government, according as the existing Rajah or his local Governor took a fancy to make any particular spot his residence; of these Nalapannee or Kulunga, where Gillespie was killed (the latter is a general name for a fort on a high bill) about four miles from Dehra, is the chief: this and one upon Budraj were Goorka forts, and were built of blocks of stone with a little masonry: at Koshalpoor near Synspoor, Suntoor Gurh, near Majra on the Kheree road, a spot above Rajpoor, at Jogeewala in Upper Chandee, in which is a well lined with masonry, and possibly in other places, are the remains of ancient forts. The latter are all in the valley, and were built of mud like those in the plains. The whole are now in ruins, and the vestiges of some are not sufficiently perceptible to attract a person's attention unless he be told what once existed. Of Kulunga, to which but a few years ago the attention of all India was drawn by one of the most gallant defences recorded in history, and by the death of Gillespie, literally not one stone remains upon another, and scarce even a vestige to show that any building had ever been erected on the spot. Two old burr trees at the highest peak of the hill, mark the spot where one of the inferior Goorka chiefs fell. They were lopped of all their branches and reduced to miserable stumps by the English guns; they have now sprouted and are flourishing as green as ever, while the majority of those who fought around them, and by whom they were nearly destroyed, have since mouldered into dust. TOWNS. 26. The only place now approaching to any thing like a town is Dehra, situate in E. Long. 78° or 69°, N. Lat. 30° 18' 51," and may be said to have been founded by Gooroo Ram Roy, as only a small village previously existed on the spot: it contains 518 houses, and 2,126 inhabitants. What are now the villages of Jakhun and Nuwâdâ are said to have been, the former a very large town, which decayed many years ago; the latter a tolerable sized one which decayed about thirty years since. There can be no doubt that Jakhun was once a considerable place; the remains of stone temples, and blocks of carved stone, are still to be seen. There are also the remains of stone walls which once surrounded the enclosures usually made about houses in this part of the country. In digging near the spot, remnants of pottery were found in considerable quantities. At Nuwâdâ are still the remains of stone houses two stories high. VILLAGES. 27. Some are very good sized: the largest contains 97 houses. There may be about fifteen, each containing fifty and upwards, and twenty seven, each containing more than thirty and less than fifty: the rest are small, some only containing two or three grass huts, and some of the hill villages only one house each. POPULATION. 28. At the end of 1823 an attempt at enumeration was made; which, as the district was small and tolerably compact, it was thought might be feasible. The result was as follows: 8,188 Houses. Subr. Do. Men. Boys. Women. Girls. Beg. Fakeers. Total. 241 20,179 Of these the first column, houses, stands for families; the second is the actual number of houses; as some families have several houses belonging to them, all enclosed in the same yard, inhabited by different members of the family. The facility and cheapness of building the grass huts, of which most of the dwellings are composed, encourages this. This would give on an average rather more than four to a family; which is probably a tolerably correct estimate. 29. The small number of children, in proportion to the men and women, will excite surprise. It may in part be accounted for by the fact that a large number of the men under thirty years of age, are unmarried, and that a considerable number of the women are old widows: for this the only probable cause is the Goorka invasion in 1804, and subsequent tyranny, which caused the death or emigration of some thousand inhabitants; the deaths chiefly falling on the men; while of those who remained, numbers destroyed their female children as soon as born, both to avoid the trouble and the expense of marrying them, and for fear of their being victims to the licentiousness of the Goorkas, who for some time did not scruple at taking any handsome girl they saw. This, however, is only a suggestion. 30. To the above must be added the Sirmour Battalion. This being a local corps, is permanently cantoned at Dehra, the families of many of the men live with them, many of them also have a number of relations seeking service, residing with them; consequently the numbers in and attached to the regiment amount to more than is usual in regular corps. The total number of people of all descriptions in the lines, is perhaps 4,100, viz., fighting men 900; followers and families, at 3 to 1, 2,700; Bazar, officer's servants and miscellaneous 500. 31. The establishment of the Court Jail, &c. may be estimated at 250, which will make a total of 24,527, for the population of the Doon, excluding Lower Chandee. 32. During the cold weather, i. e. between the sowing and reaping of the wheat crops, about 2,000 hill men come down to work as laborers; and about an equal number from the plains to cut timbers, and bamboos, to make line, khat, and other mercantile purposes. WELLS. 33. There are very few, which in some parts is owing to the great depth required to find water, and in others to the people not being in the habit of digging them: in the Hindoostannee phrase "their fathers never did, how can they?" for in some parts of the Doon |