An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal. Francis Hamilton

estimate of the temperature of this region may be formed from the heat of a spring at Bichhakor, having, in the end of March, been found 74° of Fahrenheit’s scale, the latitude being 27° 16′ N.

      On arriving at what may be called the mountains, though they are not separated from the low hills by any distinct boundary, we have a very elevated region, consisting of one mountain heaped on another, and rising to a great height, so that, when any fall happens in winter, their tops are for a short time covered with snow. The inhabited vallies between these are in general very narrow, and are of very various degrees of elevation, probably from 3000 to 6000 feet of perpendicular height above the plains of Puraniya. Of course, they differ very much in their temperature; so that some of them abound in the ratan and bamboo, both of enormous dimension, while others produce only oaks and pines. Some ripen the pine-apple and sugar-cane, while others produce only barley, millet, and other grains.

      Some estimate of the climate of this region may be formed by means of the accompanying register of the weather kept near Kathmandu, although it is very imperfect, from that want of convenience which must attend travellers in so remote a country. The winter we passed in Nepal, was reckoned uncommonly mild; and in place of the rain, which we had at that season, in most years snow falls at Kathmandu. A more accurate estimate of the average heat of the valley may be obtained from that of its springs, which by repeated trials at a fine spring nearly on a level with Kathmandu, I found to be 64° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer; but in a spring near Thankot, the heat in April was 59½°; in one at Chitlong it was a degree lower; and at Bhimphedi, on the skirts of the lower hills, it was 63°. This cold, so uncommon in the latitude of between 27° 30′, and 26° 41′, must be attributed to the great elevation of the country, for the neighbourhood of the snowy peaks of Emodus could produce little effect, as the winds were very seldom from that quarter. We have no data upon which we can calculate the height of the valley of Nepal with any considerable accuracy. The nearest approach I can make to it, is by the difference of the average height of the barometer observed during the month of February 1802, in the Tariyani, and during the February following at Kathmandu. The average height at the former place was 29,60 inches, while at the latter it was 25,25 inches. The difference of the logarithms of these numbers, rejecting the index, and taking only the four next figures, will give 690 fathoms, 4140 feet, for the height of Kathmandu above the Tariyani. The observations with the thermometer, for the proper correction of those made with the barometer, are not complete; but they are not of great consequence, considering that the fundamental observations were not simultaneous, and were therefore liable to great error.

      The periodical rains extend to Nepal, and are nearly of the same violence and duration with those in Behar. Colonel Kirkpatrick [70] thinks, and perhaps justly, that they commence a little earlier. Water spouts are common, which shows that their cause is quite unconnected with the sea.

      On the whole I am inclined to believe, that the climate of the valley is healthful, although, immediately before our arrival, the inhabitants had been much troubled with fevers, and, for the first three months after our arrival, the whole of our native attendants were exceedingly sickly. The complaints to which they were chiefly subject, were fevers of the intermittent kind, and fluxes, attended with a very copious secretion of slimy matter, which, by the natives, is attributed to Bayu or wind; and which was brought on by very slight indulgences in eating. In the fevers emetics seemed much more efficacious than the cathartics which are usually employed at Calcutta; and, indeed, a dose of emetic tartar very frequently cut the fever short, as usual in temperate climates. The fluxes were not attended with much pain, and both these and the tendency in the bowels to the slimy secretions, seemed to require the frequent exhibition of spirituous bitters and small doses of opium. In such cases, I found the chirata tolerably efficacious, but I thought other bitters more powerful, especially the infusion of chamomile flowers, and the compound tinctures of Gentian and Peruvian bark. Our people probably suffered from having passed through the forest too late in the season; but the natives of Hindustan do not support a change of air, and on our first arrival they were not well provided with means to resist the weather, which to them was uncommonly cold.

      I have seen no country where the venereal disease is so common as in Nepal, nor so generally diffused among all classes of the people, who are indeed very dissolute. During my stay I had application for medical assistance from all ranks labouring under the venereal disease; and I observed that the men did not consider it as extraordinary or shameful, when they found their wives afflicted with this malady. The dissolute manners of the inhabitants are carried to such a length, that a great many of the young men of rank, by the age of twenty-five, are debilitated, and have recourse to stimulants. The preparation of these forms a chief source of emolument to the medical men, and they are sometimes taken to a quantity that proves fatal.

      Cutaneous disorders, and especially the itch, are also very common, and almost as prevalent as in Hindustan. The leprosy, in which the joints drop off, is as common as in Bengal; but in Nepal it cannot be attributed to the lowness of the country, nor to a fish diet, to which the people of Kathmandu have little or no inclination. Some of the persons afflicted with this horrid disorder, I found to be of considerable rank, and quite removed from the want of a nourishing diet. I am almost certain that this disease is not infectious, as I know an instance of a woman, who has lost all her toes and fingers, and who, in that state, has had a child, which she nursed. The child is two years old, and is very healthy. The natives consider the disease as hereditary, and allege that the child will become its victim.

      The same kind of swelling in the throat that is common among the inhabitants of the Alps, prevails in Nepal, and, indeed, is frequently seen every where north from Patna. It might at first sight be supposed, that this disease does not derive its origin from the people drinking the water which came from mountains covered with perpetual snow, the cause to which in Europe it has been usually attributed. No water of this kind, however, flows through Nepal; for, although some of the inhabitants of the northern part of Bahar, who live near the Ganduki and Kausiki, drink the water springing from perpetual snow; yet by far the greater part of them drink the water of the various branches of the Vagmati, all of which arise in sub-alpine regions. It must, however, be observed, that the springs by which these rivers are fed may be supplied by the melted snow, which may sink into the earth of the Himalaya mountains, and not come to light till it reaches the lower hills.