Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1856

The time of departure from Kathmandu is determined by the opening of the passes over the Himalaya which takes place usually during the first half of June by the melting of the snows; and that accordingly is the regular period for the setting out of the No. [...] The chief item therefore of both itineraries and the only one of the shorter is an enumeration of the mountain ridges or ranges intersecting the way (a most valuable piece of information as we shall soon see) ; and to this the longer paper adds a similar enumeation of the intervening rivers with the means of passing them or the ferries and bridges ; the forts occurring all along the route [...] It may be that the question of the wateshed is not to be regarded with reference to the adjacent countries only but as Guyot and others affirm with reference to the whole eastern half of the contnent of Asia ; and that the southern part of Tibet inclusive of the Himalaya is to be regarded as sheding the waters of Eastern Asia from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean. [...] 5th.—Tibet is annually the seasonal resort of vast numbers of the wading and swimming tribes of birds which pass from the plains of India to those of Tibet every spring and stay in the latter till the setting in of winter whilst the whole of these birds entirely avoid the Himalaya. [...] It is well known that the Kurubas were driven down from the healthful summit to the malarious slopes of the hills and I have strong reasons lot believing that the Cromlechs and Cairns of the hills were made by the ancestors of the Kurumbas and not by those of the Todas as is generally supposed by Europeans.