ery dirty, and chew pawn to profusion--they can scarcely
be said to form a worthy portion of the gentler sex. They appear to be
honest; but that is a quality which, from the example of their European
lords, they are said to be losing fast. They have no written character;
every thing being transmitted by tradition, and performed by the
interchange of tokens. They drink like fish, and manufacture a bad kind
of arrack, the pernicious effects of which were experienced by the
European invalids when the Sanatarium was in existence. They pay respect
to their dead by the erection of a sort of kairns and large erect slabs
of sandstone rounded off at the upper end: of these, I believe, they put
up three or five to each friend, according to their means and, probably,
rank. The Churra people cultivate nothing but a little cotton, and
perhaps a species of Eleasine. They depend upon the plains for their
support and supplies, and this is good management since rice at Terrya
Ghat is sold at 70 or 80 seers a rupee. Their hire is, considering the
cheapness of their food, very expensive; a man being rated at four annas
a day, a woman at three, and a boy at two. I should add, that they have
no caste.

The climate is certainly very cool and cold, the thermometer ranging from
about 56 to 66 degrees in-doors at this time of the year. The rains are
said to be the coldest part of the year; they are excessive, commencing
in April and ceasing in October. It occasionally rains for fifteen or
sixteen days in succession, and without intermission; and nine or ten
inches have been known to fall in twenty-four hours. Since we have been
here, inclusive of this, we have had four days of wet weather, of which
three were continued rain. Both were ushered in by the sudden irruption
of heavy mists from below, which soon spread over the country, obscuring
every thing. These sudden irruptions occur during the partial breaking
up of the rain, during which time the valleys are completely choked up
with dense mists, the summits of the hills on the opposite side to that
on which one stands being alone visible. After the rains were over, in
the first instance, the plains, or rather the mass of haze hanging over
them, presented a most curious spectacle.

The coldest weather we have yet experienced was at Maamloo, on the 27th,
the thermometer at 8 P.M. being at 52 degrees. This is remarkable, as
Maamloo is rather below Churra. There is however a good