KUMAON.
(1) ITS SCENERY AND PRODUCTS.
Kumaon is a sub-Himalayan region, with Nepal to the east, the snowy
range, separating it from Tibet, to the north, Gurhwal and Dehra Doon to
the west, and Rohilkund to the south. Including the hill country of
Gurhwal, and the belt of forest and swamp lying immediately under it, of
which only a small part has been reclaimed, Kumaon is about half the
size of Scotland.
[Sidenote: THE SCENERY OF KUMAON.]
The province presents a remarkable contrast to the great level country
beneath. Over it you travel in some directions hundreds of miles, and
scarcely any elevation or depression in the land can be discerned. As
you travel northward, and approach the limit of the plains, you see
hills rising before you, tier after tier; and behind them, on a clear
day, the higher Himalaya, with their snowy peaks, as if touching the
heavens.
Kumaon is very mountainous, with as great irregularity as if the land
had been fluid, had in the midst of a storm been suddenly solidified,
and had then received its permanent shape. Here and there are valleys of
some extent, table-lands and open fields are occasionally seen; but over
a great part of the province hill is separated from hill by a space so
narrow that it can only be called a ravine. The consequence is that
cultivation is carried on mainly in terraces. Where the slope is
gradual, and the soil fit for cultivation, these terraces, some very
narrow and others of considerable width, rise one above the other to the
distance of miles, with the hamlets of the cultivators scattered over
the hill-side, presenting to the eye of the traveller an aspect of
scenery which is not to be seen in Europe, so far as I am aware. At any
rate, we saw nothing resembling it on the vine-clad hills rising from
the Rhine, or in the mountains of Switzerland.
The country is well watered. It has innumerable streams, varying from
tiny rills to large rivers. In travelling, we have been for days within
the constant sound of running water. It has a few lakelets, but it has
no large bodies of water, like the lakes which contribute so largely to
the beauty and picturesqueness of Switzerland and Scotland. It looks as
if the deep hollows, of which so many are to be seen, had been unable to
retain the water poured into them, and had let it all flow away. A large
part of the province is so steep and rocky that it cannot be turned to
any agricultural purpose; and even for grazing purposes a large portion
is of little use, as the grass is coarse and poor. There is a great
extent of forest and brushwood. As the land slopes towards the Bhabhur,
the forest is very dense and varied. The timber is of considerable
value, but as there is neither road nor water carriage it must be
carried on men's shoulders, and this involves an expense more than it
can bear.
From what I have said about the peculiarities of Kumaon scenery, its
mountains, valleys, and ravines, my readers are prepared to hear it has
a great variety of climate and produce. Of hills, of which there are
many from 5000 to 9000 feet above the level of the sea, the climate is
delightful--warm, but not oppressively warm, a little warmer than it is
in our country in summer; and cold, though not so severely cold as it is
with us in winter. The rains are very heavy, but to compensate for this
there is, during the greater part of the year, a steadiness of climate
which forms a striking contrast to the fickle climate of England. Down
in the valleys the heat is very great. Even in winter the sun is
unpleasantly strong, and in summer in the deep ravines the temperature
is almost as trying as in the plains. When the season has been somewhat
advanced, I have been very thankful to escape from the heat of these low
places to the bracing air of the hills. The English Sanatoria are of
course on elevated sites.
As Kumaon has within its borders a cold, a temperate, and a tropical
climate, it has a great variety of produce, and when its capabilities
are more fully turned to account this variety will be greatly increased.
Most of the grains found in the plains are grown in the hills. The
warmer parts of the country produce superior oranges in abundance, and
there is also a good supply of walnuts. Of late years apples and pears
have been grown with great success, and if the farmers paid attention to
this branch of horticulture they might reap a large profit. Attempts
have been made on a small scale to cultivate the grape, gooseberry, and
currant, but the excessive rainfall of the rainy season has been found
unfavourable to them. Tea has become the most valuable product of the
province. Tea-planting was commenced at the instance of Government,
under its direction and at its expense, more than forty years ago; and
now tea-gardens are found all over the province, owned almost entirely
by our fellow-countrymen, and, with few exceptions, managed by them. At
first Chinamen were employed, but they have been dispensed with, and the
entire work is now done by hill people under English superintendence.
(2) THE NATIVE INHABITANTS OF KUMAON.
[Sidenote: THE INHABITANTS OF KUMAON.]
The hill people of Central and Southern India, the Kols, the Santhals,
the Bheels, and others, as is well known, widely differ in race,
language, customs, and religion, from the Hindus and Mussulmans of the
plains. In Kumaon, on the other hand, the great majority are strict
Hindus, worshippers of the Hindu gods, and scrupulous observers of caste
rules. It would appear that when the ancestors of the Hindus, coming
from Central Asia, crossed the Indus, and took possession of the country
now called the Punjab, they made raids into the lower range of the
Himalayas, killing their inhabitants, or turning them into slaves. The
descendants of the aborigines are at present found in a class called
Doms, who form the artisan portion of the population, and are also
largely employed in agriculture. The Muhammadans form a very small part
of the population, and are almost entirely emigrants from the plains.
The character of the hill Hindus, in its essential elements, closely
accords with that of their brethren elsewhere. They worship the Hindu
gods, practise Hindu rites, and are imbued with the Hindu spirit. The
Brahmans and Rajpoots are proud of their position, firm in maintaining
it, and shrink from everything which would invalidate it. Under native
rule the high-caste spirit had full scope, for we are told that for
murder a Brahman was banished, and a Rajpoot heavily mulcted; while
other murderers were put to death. Such offences against the Hindu
religion as killing a cow, or a Dom making use of a _huqqa_ (the pipe
for smoking), or a utensil belonging to a Brahman or Rajpoot, were
capital offences. The power obtained by the Brahmans was shown by the
fact that, when the province came under British rule, one-fifteenth of
its arable land belonged to the religious establishments.
All the Hindu gods and goddesses are worshipped in the hills, but the
hideous goddess Kalee is the favourite object of worship. Small temples
to her honour are found all over the province, many of them in solitary
places on the tops of hills, to which it is meritorious to make
pilgrimages, and around which at certain seasons melas are held. We have
in our wanderings fallen in with several of these temples in spots from
which, for many miles around, no human habitation is seen. By far the
most famous shrines are those of Badrinath and Kedarnath, in the upper
part of Gurhwal, within the snowy range, where Vishnu is the object of
worship, and the officiating priests are Brahmans from Southern India.
Pilgrimage to these places is very meritorious, as it can only be
accomplished at the cost of great toil and suffering, and at the
imminent risk of life.
[Illustration: TEMPLE IN THE HIMALAYAS.]
In addition to the gods worshipped all over India, the hill people have
local gods unknown elsewhere. _Bhoots_, evil spirits, commonly supposed
to be the spirits of those who have during their earthly life been noted
for their wickedness, and have acquired the demon character, are
believed to haunt the mountains and forests, and are the objects of
special dread. Homage is paid to them to secure their goodwill and avert
their vengeance. The people greatly dislike travelling at night, as that
is the season when the _Bhoots_ roam about and fall on their prey.
When they must move about they break off the branches of the pine-tree,
and turn them into torches to frighten off both the wild beasts and the
evil spirits. In the imagination which peoples hills and forests with
beings outside the circle of humanity, that make their presence
especially felt at night, the people of Kumaon closely resemble the
mountaineers of other lands, among others those of our own Scotch
Highlands, as they were till a recent period. In my early days I heard
so many stories in my native Highland village of ghosts and fairies,
that I was afraid to move about after sunset except when guarded by
others, lest these supernatural beings should lay hold of me and carry
me away.
[Sidenote: THE CHARACTER OF THE KUMAONEES.]
The people have a character for industry. When one sees the difficulties
under which cultivation is carried on, he is inclined to consider it
deserved. They have periods of lounging, but also of very hard work. The
women, in addition to household work, cut and carry wood and grass, and
do much farm work--I have thought at times more than their share; but
after all, the heaviest work, the carrying of great loads on head and
shoulders, up hill and down hill, and the farm work requiring most
strength, is done by the men. Much of the work done by them--work done
by draught animals elsewhere--must tend to break down their health and
shorten their days.
The Kumaonees have been described as untruthful but honest. I must say
our experience has verified the unfavourable part of this description
more than the favourable. So far as veracity is concerned we have not
been impressed with any difference between them and other natives of
India. We think their honesty has received more credit than it deserves.
This is, at any rate, the opinion of the tea-planters with whom we have
conversed, and who have had superior opportunities for judging. They
have told us of the strict watch they have to set to guard their tea and
fruit. We found that some hill servants, whom we had greatly trusted,
had systematically robbed us. The character for honesty was, I believe,
given to them because when they set out on their periodical migration to
the plains they left their villages unguarded, and found their property
safe on their return. I suppose this resulted partly from an
unwritten--may I say?--honourable understanding, that as in their sparse
and widely-scattered population it was well-nigh impossible to guard
their goods, the rights of property should be respected; and partly from
the circumstance that there was little left behind in the villages which
could be carried away. So far as others, especially Europeans, are
concerned, this understanding to practise honesty does not hold.
We incidentally heard of no small degree of immorality among the people,
but our information is too limited to justify one in comparing them with
others in this respect. There is much that is likable among them, but
the general moral tone is undoubtedly low. Polyandry, which prevails in
some districts in the Western Himalayan range, is I believe unknown, but
polygamy is not uncommon among those who can afford it.
Cleanliness has never been considered a virtue of Highlanders. It is
not--or perhaps I should say it has not been--a characteristic of the
Highlanders of our own land. Among the Kumaonees it is notably wanting.
The loathsome disease of leprosy has long prevailed in the province,
owing to a large extent to the filthy habits of the people. To the same
cause there is every reason to believe, we have to trace the outbreak
now and then of the plague--_muha muree_, the great plague, as it is
called--which has proved very destructive. It resembles the plague which
at different times prevailed in Europe and swept away thousands. So
great is the dread of this terrible malady, that on the report of its
approach people flee from their villages. Cholera has been at times
fatal to many, but its ravages are not to be compared to those of the
plague.
(3) HISTORY OF KUMAON UNDER GHOORKHA AND BRITISH RULE.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF KUMAON.]
Kumaon had been long under the rule of a native dynasty, but intestine
feuds laid the country open to the attacks of ambitious neighbours. In
the latter end of the eighteenth century the Ghoorkhas, a military
tribe, rose to power in Nepal, the hill-country to the east, and early
in this century they extended their conquests over the hill-country to
the west, till they were checked by Runjeet Singh, the famous ruler of
the Punjab. Their rule over Kumaon was said to be very oppressive. By
raids into British territory they came into collision with the English.
After a severe struggle, carried on through two campaigns, they were
defeated, and forced to give up the country they had conquered to the
west of Nepal, which they had held for about twelve years. Kumaon and
the adjoining hill-country of Gurhwal were placed under the jurisdiction
of a British Commissioner, and the arrangement made in 1816 has been
maintained to the present time.
[Sidenote: PROGRESS OF THE PROVINCE.]
The country has made immense progress since the English took possession.
The people are now under a government which aims at protecting life and
property, and at treating all, high and low, with equal justice. No
longer are Dom offenders against caste laws executed while Brahman and
Rajpoot murderers escape. Atrocious customs have been suppressed, such
as the burial of lepers alive, which was formerly largely practised.
Sanitary regulations have been issued, and penalties imposed on those
convicted of violating them. Fights between villages, ending in robbery
and murder, are no longer permitted, though sham-fights are still
allowed. I was once a witness of such a fight, when a vast number of
hill people were collected, as if for a great field-day, and stones were
thrown from slings in a way I thought perilous to the combatants. Roads
have been made, and rivers bridged. The new roads are too narrow and
steep to admit of wheeled conveyances; often they are only three or four
feet in width, and are at a gradient which makes them trying for horses
and for persons on foot; but they are an immense improvement on the
footpaths with which the natives were satisfied till they came under
British rule, and with which they are still satisfied when left to
themselves. I have not had much experience of the by-paths of the
country, but quite enough to have made me thankful for the new order of
things. Very recently a road for carts and conveyances has been made
from the plains to Nynee Tal, Ranee Khet, and Almora; but the route is
so circuitous that the roads hitherto traversed will continue the chief
means of communication.
No sooner was the British rule established than the effect was seen in
the increase of cultivation. Mr. Traill, the first Commissioner, states
that from the time of the occupation, 1816 to 1822-23, the date of his
retirement, cultivation had increased fully one-third, and since that
time there has been a steady advance. The population has more than
doubled, for we are told that in 1823 there were 27 inhabitants to the
square mile, while in 1872 there were 65. At the same time there were
797 to the square mile in the Benares district, and there was no
district in the North-West Provinces where the population was under 185,
while the average was 378. An immense disparity must continue between
countries with such different capabilities, but the progress made in
Kumaon under British rule is proportionably as great as that made in the
most favoured parts of India.
Wealth has been brought into the country as well as drawn out of it. I
have already referred to tea-planting as a new department of
agricultural industry. Many thousands have been spent on
tea-gardens--much more, I suspect, than has yet been got out of them. A
tea-planter once pointed to a cluster of well-built villages, and said,
"These houses have all been built within the last few years by the
proceeds of wages made in the tea-garden under my charge." Then the
great influx of European travellers and residents has done not a little
to enrich the people in various ways, though at times the labour thus
required has been very grudgingly given, as it has withdrawn them from
their homes when their own work was urgent.
Of late years a new source of income has been opened up to the people by
the enterprise of Sir Henry Ramsay, who has been for many years the
Commissioner of the Province, and has done more for it than any of his
predecessors. The hill people of some districts have been for ages in
the habit of moving down _en masse_ with their cattle at the beginning
of the cold weather for grazing, and have returned to their mountain
homes when the hot weather had set in. The country immediately under
the hills is called the Bhabhur, and is quite distinct from the Turai
which lies beyond. This Bhabhur is a formation of sand and shingle
filled with boulders, largely covered over with soil, which produces
abundant herbage in the rainy season, and is thus good grazing ground in
the succeeding months. It has a large extent of forest, composed of
trees of great girth and magnificent height. The innumerable streams
which come down from the hills flow under the Bhabhur, and make their
way into the Turai beyond, where the land becomes water-logged, and the
main product is long, rank grass, growing to the height of ten or twelve
feet. By a system of canals, devised and carried out by Sir Henry
Ramsay, the water as it comes down from the hills is made to irrigate a
large part of the Bhabhur, rendering it fit for agricultural purposes.
The result is that the people now cultivate the land, beside grazing
their cattle over it. They sow toward the end of the rainy season, and
reap at the beginning of the hot weather, when they retreat to the
hills, and are ready for the cultivation of their fields there. This
addition to the arable land has been a great boon to the people. I
cannot say, however, judging by those with whom I have conversed, that
they are satisfied. They grumble at the new tax imposed for the
construction and maintenance of the canals, and also at the tax they
have to pay for their holdings in the hills, though I believe it to be
very light. They would gladly have all the benefits of a firm and
improving government without paying anything for its support.
[Sidenote: WILD BEASTS.]
Notwithstanding the extension of cultivation and the increase of
population in Kumaon, we may travel for many miles over hill and forest
and not see a trace of man's presence. Cover for wild beasts has been
somewhat abridged, but it is still sufficient to shelter them, and to
make it unlikely they can be exterminated. Both in the hills and in the
country beneath, hunters of wild beasts, European and native, still find
abundant employment. Not a year passes without persons, sheep, and
cattle being killed by tigers, leopards, and hyenas. They live so much
in the gorges of the mountains, and in the depths of the forests, ready
to pounce on their prey when opportunity presents itself, that the
destruction caused by them is seen, while they themselves disappear. The
first thing we saw on our first approach to Almora was a horse which had
been killed by a leopard the preceding night. A woman, who had been
cutting grass before the door of a house we occupied for a few days, was
killed an hour afterwards by a tiger in the adjoining forest. One
afternoon we heard the cry of a herd, and running out we saw a goat with
its throat cut, but the leopard that had killed it had disappeared in
the jungle beneath. On another occasion my pony, picketed near my tent,
had a narrow escape from a leopard. I have often heard huntsmen relate
the encounters they have had with these terrible brutes. On one occasion
I saw four dead tigers brought in by a party that had killed them a few
miles from the place where my tent was pitched. Tigers are very
migratory. They live in the cold weather down in the Bhabhur and the
Turai, and as the hot weather advances they follow the herd up the hills
on to the verge of the snow. The bears of the hills feed on fruit and
vegetables, and usually make away when human beings are seen, but they
are very formidable to those who attack them, or come suddenly across
their path. In some places wolves abound, and children and animals
require to be guarded against them; but they never hunt in packs as in
Russia, and they are not feared by grown-up people. In the lower hills
and the Bhabhur there are herds of wild elephants, which do much injury
to the crops of the people, and cannot be safely approached. I have been
again and again in their track. There are also serpents, but they are
not so numerous or venomous as in the plains. The dangers to which the
inhabitants are exposed is shown by the annual statistics of casualties,
in which the first place is given to the ravages of wild beasts, the
second to landslips, and the third to serpents.
[Sidenote: INCONVENIENT STIPULATION.]
I may end this account of Kumaon, its scenery, products, history, and
people, by mentioning two stipulations in the treaty with the Ghoorkhas,
when the British took possession of the land, which are strikingly
illustrative at once of British policy and of Hindu feeling. One
stipulation was that certain sums should be paid annually to the priests
of certain temples. A second stipulation was that the slaughter of
bullocks and cows should be strictly prohibited. Not a vestige of power
over the country was left to the Ghoorkhas; the entire rule was
transferred to the British. But our authorities, influenced at once by
religious liberalism or indifference, and by deference to Hindu feeling,
accepted these conditions. The first stipulation caused no trouble, but
the force of circumstances has led to the violation of the second. When
there were no European troops in the Province, and the only Englishmen
were civil officials, officers of native regiments, and a few casual
travellers, the prohibition of beef caused little inconvenience; but a
large influx of English people, soldiers and others, made the observance
of the stipulation impracticable. For a time it was violated, and the
authorities professed to know nothing about it; but when Nynee Tal
became a great summer resort, and English soldiers were located at it,
beef became a well-nigh indispensable article of food, cows and bullocks
were killed, and the breach in the treaty by which the country was ceded
to us became manifest to all. It is said that when the high-caste
officials protested against this outrage on the Hindu religion, an
English official quietly said that such good Hindus were not in their
proper place, that they should be transferred to their holy city,
Benares. This speedily silenced the complaint, as hill people intensely
dislike leaving their mountains for the plains.
The treaty with the Ghoorkhas is not the only one in which the
stipulation against beef has been made when territory has been ceded. To
a treaty-keeping people like the English the stipulation has been very
embarrassing, so embarrassing that for a time resolute effort has been
made to observe it, but it has at length broken down under what has been
deemed the compulsion of circumstances. We have heard of a high-caste
official consoling his brethren for the outrage by reminding them it is
the nature of tigers to eat cows and bullocks, and by telling them that
the English were tigers, had a similar love for such food, and as it was
their nature it must be borne with. Though so shocked with the shedding
of the blood of cows and bullocks, the ruling class in Nepal have shown
no aversion to the shedding of human blood, as is well known by all
acquainted with the history of the country. During the mutiny a friend
of mine, travelling with a regiment of Ghoorkhas that had come down from
Nepal to help us, saw them kill a party of mutineers who had surrendered
under an oath of their lives being spared, with a savage ferocity which
shocked him beyond measure.
(4) TRAVELLING IN KUMAON.
[Sidenote: TRAVELLING.]
The greater part of our time in the Province was spent in the capital,
Almora, and in the newly-formed Sanatarium Ranee Khet, but we frequently
travelled through many of its districts. I have mentioned the improved
means of communication, but vastly better though the roads be than they
were in the days of native rule, travelling continues to be very
expensive, fatiguing, and in some modes not a little dangerous.
Travellers must either walk, ride, or be carried on men's shoulders. The
first mode can be adopted only by those who have abundant strength and
leisure. It was my mode during our first visit, as I was not pressed for
time, and notwithstanding our residence of eight years in the plains I
retained a good deal of my youthful vigour. The mountain scenery and the
mountain air gave us new life. I travelled on foot some three hundred
miles. On the occasion of future visits I was happy to avail myself of a
hill pony. Most gentlemen and many young ladies perform their hill
journeys on horseback. Happily, hill ponies are, as a rule, quiet and
sure-footed; and they require to be, as the roads are narrow, in some
places very narrow, and overhang precipices, down which the rider would
be dashed if the pony slipped or was scared. At first, riding appears
very dangerous, but after a time there is a feeling of security. I
remember riding with confidence over places where at first I deemed it
prudent to dismount. Scarcely a year, however, passes without riders
being killed, and all who have travelled much over the country have to
tell of providential escapes. The third mode, the mode adopted by most
ladies, and by gentlemen who have not nerve to ride, is to be carried
on men's shoulders. The palankeen and dolie of the plains are by far too
heavy and cumbrous for the hills. The favourite vehicle is the
_dandee_--a pole, with a piece of carpet attached, on which the
traveller sits sideway, and which has belts for the back and feet. Two
men, one at each end of the pole, are able to carry the _dandee_ a short
distance, but in journeys four are commonly employed. During the last
few years a very light sedan-chair has come into favour, which is far
more convenient for ladies, but the _dandee_ is lighter and will
continue to be largely used.
We have seen a good deal of both the eastern and western portions of the
Province. In 1847 we travelled to Lahoo Ghat and Petorah Gurh in the
east. On this occasion I went on to Nepal, and was told by the Nepalese
sentry on the frontier bridge that without special permission from
Khatmandoo, the Capital, I could not proceed farther. In 1869, in
company with my much-esteemed friend the late Dr. Mather, I travelled in
the same direction, and saw much of the country, as we went by one route
and returned by another. During the later years of our residence we saw
a good deal of the western districts, to which I shall refer when giving
an account of missionary operations.
Along some of the main roads, at the distance of twelve or fourteen
miles, are small rough Rest-houses, with a table, two chairs, and a
bedstead, often in very bad condition. These houses are in charge of a
watchman, who is often long in making his appearance, and then brings
wood and water, and sometimes a little milk. For everything else you are
dependent on people with you carrying supplies. Where there is much
traffic there is good accommodation.
[Sidenote: TIMELY ESCAPE.]
Our most memorable journey, perhaps, was one made in 1861 to the
Pindaree glacier. The journey was a very fatiguing one, as the roads
were so bad, and the ascents and descents so steep, that before we got
half way I was obliged to leave my pony behind, and to make my way on
foot, helped to ascend and descend in some places by strong hill-men,
who drew me up or helped me down by a belt round my middle, while my
wife and little boy were carried in _dandies_. Many of the bridges were
rough wooden structures, with no parapets. As we approached the snow we
suffered much at night from cold in our little tent. The hill people of
the higher region we found much stronger and more unsophisticated than
those we had left behind. The women seemed never to have seen an English
woman or child. They were first afraid to come near us, but my wife made
her way to little groups, and they seemed delighted with her, and still
more with her little boy. Fatiguing and trying though the journey was,
health was improved by it, and we were well rewarded for any toil and
inconvenience we endured by the magnificent scenery we saw. Down the
Pindaree valley came a roaring torrent, showing by its yellow tinge it
came from the melted snow. We were awed as we looked up at the
tremendous cliffs on either side. Pursuing our way in silence, I heard a
servant from the plains, who was walking behind me, muttering to
himself, "Such a wicked place I never saw in my life." We breakfasted on
the glacier, and after looking at some of the crevasses we were glad to
make our way back to our tent a few miles below. Next morning we
retraced our steps, and it was well we did so, for as we were rapidly
descending we had heavy rain, and could see snow falling where we had
been. The next day the whole region behind was covered with snow, and
we were thankful for our timely escape.
The details of travelling I have now given, and the previous details
about the country and people may perhaps enable the reader the better to
understand and realize missionary work in the Province.
[Illustration]