made from the same fibre is also brought from Almorah. I may here mention that many years afterwards I saw, at the Asiatic Society in London, a similar piece of paper ticketed, "A single sheet of paper measuring sixty feet by twenty-five, made in Kumaon, from the inner fibres of the Set Burrooah, or Daphne-Cannabind-tree; presented to the Asiatic Society by G. W. Traill, Esq., 1839." Datisca cannabina, Hemp-like Datisca, Loudon.
I also saw there an enormous pod of the mimosa scandens, a wild creeper; the seed is called gela, and is used by natives chiefly for washing the hair. The dhobīs cut a hole in the centre of this seed, and by rubbing it up and down on the muslin sleeves of native dresses, produce a sort of goufré, that is admired and worn by opulent men. Speaking of washermen, it appears to me a most extraordinary thing that the English have never adopted the Asiatic method of steaming the clothes in lieu of boiling them. The process of washing by steam is very simple, gives but little trouble, and produces the most delicate whiteness. The washermen place the clothes in the evening over the most simple steam apparatus in the world, leave them all night to steam, by the next morning they are clean and fit to be removed; when all that is necessary is to rinse them in the river, dry, and iron them. What a saving of expense, time, and trouble it would be if this method were to be adopted in the public washing-houses in England!
21st.—Drove to Sir David Auchterlony's house; there was but little to see there. Attended a ball given by the station to the Governor-General; remained an hour, and returned early to be ready for our expedition the next morning.
22nd.—Mounted our horses at day-break, and started for the Kutab. Passed the observatory without visiting it; stopped to view the tomb of Munsoor Ali Khan Sufter Jung, Wuzeer of the Emperor Ahmud Shah, who died in 1753—1167; it is a handsome edifice.
THE KUTAB MINĀR.
I had seen many drawings of this famous minār, and imagined
