country on which the Busehur government can place any dependence. Most of the other districts, which were formerly ruled by petty chiefs, of whom there are many descendants still alive, would revolt upon the first favourable opportunity; and it was in Koonawur that the Rajah and Ranees found refuge and were supported, during the time the Goorkhalees possessed the other parts of Busehur. The hardy Koonawurees were almost the only soldiers; and by destroying the bridges, and throwing other obstacles in the way of the Goorkha army, they succeeded in giving them so much trouble, that the commander judged it prudent to conclude a treaty with them, in which he promised that no Goorkha would be allowed to enter Koonawur, on condition of their giving 7,500 Rs. annually, which sum was always punctually paid. The Koonawurees often pointed out with exultation the spot where they defeated Umur Sing's advanced guard, which was one of the reasons that induced the commandant to make peace with them.

VILLAGES, HOUSES, ETC.

The villages are in general large, and the houses spacious and even elegant. They are built of stone and wood, two stories high, and are either slated or flat roofed; the last, which is most frequent, is formed of layers of birch bark, and covered with earth. The houses have projecting wooden balconies, and are often white-washed with a shining kind of mica, which looks well. The detached houses have the appearance of English cottages. In some few parts they are wholly constructed of keloo wood,

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are compact, and resemble water cisterns. The doors are often folding, and open inwards, and to the outside are fastened iron chains, the other ends of which are fixed to the balcony above; they are quite slack, and I could never find out any use for them.

There is a blacksmith and carpenter in each large village; but they are indifferent workmen, and for the construction of the temples, they get people from the lower hills.

The household furniture consists of little more than some keloo chests for keeping grain, raisins, and apricots, a weaving apparatus which is very simple, spindles for twisting worsted, back-baskets, skins for holding flour, butter, and spirituous liquors, brass and iron cooking pots, wooden plates, a stone mortar for expressing oil from the kernel of the apricot, a hand mill, a lamp or two, a smoking pipe, a tea-pot, and sometimes a few China cups and saucers. Bedsteads are almost unknown; and the earth is of broken granite, unfit for pottery, so they keep water and oil in vessels of different shapes and sizes, made of juniper wood, with iron hoops, and resembling those called cogs by the Scotch Highlanders.

TEMPLES.

The temples of the Deotas (Deities) are magnificent, and adorned with a profusion of costly ornaments. There are two or three in almost every village, and sundry miraculous feats are ascribed to the gods to whom they are dedicated, scarcely one of whom but has the credit of having removed a

vast rock or mountain, for the purpose of rendering the roads passable, or of some other like achievement. Each god has generally three distinct houses; one for himself, another for his furniture (these two are built of stone, and slated), and the third, which is constructed of wood, is small, well raised, open all round, and supported on posts: in this the god is placed on grand festivals.

The goddess in greatest repute is Kalee, in her most horrid form, to whom human sacrifices were offered at no distant period. I have heard of their taking place not more than twelve years since; and they existed at the famous temple of Bheemakalee in Sooran, where the Busehur Rajah resides in summer, at a later time, and were not finally abolished there until the British government got possession of the Hill States, in 1815.

Two people usually attend each temple; and on the mornings and evenings they beat kettle drums, and sound trumpets.

Great sums are expended upon the temples, which are often of cut stone; they are lofty buildings, visible at a distance, towering above all the other houses in the village. They have roofs in the Chinese fashion; and projecting balconies, embellished with neatly carved wooden flowers and fringes.

COINS.

The coins are rupees, both the common one of Hindoostan; the Moohumud Shahee, five or six per cent. better; and one current on the hills, only half the value of the former.

The Timasha, or Paolee, a silver piece of four

pence, and a copper coin, called Dubwa, in value from a half-penny to a penny, according to the size. The Cowrie shells, so abundant in the plains, are unknown here as money, and they only use them as ornaments for their women. Commerce is chiefly carried on by barter.

WELLS.

The wells, for the most part, are built of hewn stone in form of inverted pyramids, descending by steps; they are not more than two or three feet deep, and are often shaded by trees or an arched roof. The springs are sometimes at the bottom, but more commonly issue from the side of a mountain, through wooden or stone pipes, not unfrequently carved into rude imitations of dog's, elephant's, or tiger's heads. The water is limpid and cool at all seasons, and my followers were always praising it.

There are a few mineral springs, impregnated with salt, iron, and alum, which may possess some medicinal qualities; I filled bottles with two kinds, to have them analyzed, but they were both broken.

LANGUAGE.

There are five different dialects spoken in Koonawur, but I have only got a vocabulary of three of them.

With the exception of compounds, which are easily distinguished, the words are monosyllabic or dissyllabic.

1st. The Milchan, or common Koonawuree, which is most generally used. The chief characteristics are the terminations, ang, ing, and ung, which occur very frequently, and might make a person suppose it was derived from the Chinese. These terminations sometimes form the only distinction between the Milchan and Hindoostanee : there are other differences, such as sb, st, ts, sk, at the beginning, and ts, gs, ps, at the ends of words. Sh, z, and zh, are very common, and they like these letters so much, that they generally change s into sh, and z into zh, when talking Hindoostanee, and these are sounds that can be pronounced by but few natives of India, unless Persian and Sanscrit scholars. The infinitives of the verbs end in mig and nig.

2nd. The Theburskud, spoken at Soongum, is very different from the Milchan, and the infinitives terminate in bung and pung.

3rd. The dialect used in Lubrung and Kanum, in which the infinitives of verbs end in ma and na.

4th. That spoken at Leedung, where the terminations of the infinitives are ens.

5th. The Bhoteea, or Tartar, which will afterwards be noticed.

The Milchan and Bhoteea are distinct tongues, and the same may almost be said of the Theburskud. The other two are dialects of the Milchan, and differ principally in the tenses of verbs, and cases of nouns.

Kotgarh, 28th June, 1822.

A. GERARD.