Pilgrims Notes of November 1841: (edited) * On reaching the lake, we found that on the level ground _ a FAIR was held and evidently one of great resort. In the centre of the market site is erected a very large swing, of most substanial consrtruction, with massive iron chains suspended from it. I could get no information regarding the purpose for which this fair is held, every one of the hill men looked mysterious on any thing connected with Nainee Tal. The lake is situated on the range of mountains overhanging the plains, caIled the Gagur, and is distant about 35 miles from Almora.The water is as clear as crytal; a beautiful little stream, supplied from the springs of the overtopping mountains, is continually running into it, and a smaller one flowing out of it, at the opposite extremity. The depth must be tremendous, as the banks below the waters level shelve down, almost perpendicular as far as the eye can reach _ infact, they are a continuation of the precipitous mountain sides around the lake. The turai below this lake, compared with the Almora one, is safe; and if you take the road by Kota and Chilkeea, into the Moradabad district, it may be passed at all seasons of the year, the same as the Pinjore Dhoon, or the Deyrah Dhoon. The name of this lake is Nainee Tal; and after what I have said, one naturally asks, why this range of mountains was not originally selected for the erection of a Sanatarium, instead of the bleak hills and rugged precipices of Landour and Mussooree. Abundance of wood, of the finest water, of level ground, and other requisites for building to any extent; capabilities for miles of beautiful roads for riding, so much wanted in every other part of the Himmala; with a magnificent sheet of water both of ornament and for use, where the manly exercise of rowing and sailing might have been indulged in with such advantage to invalids: all these are certainly extraordinary recommendations; and yet their existence even appears to have been almost unknown up to the time of my visit to the lake; no European then residing in Kumaon had seen it, and I have been unable to discover more than three visitors to it, since the signing of the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816. Possibly there may have been one or two more; although the probabilities are much against it, considering the obscurity to which such a wonderful place appears to have heen consigned. The local trackers certainly showed the greatest reluctance to guide us to the lake, by pleading entire ignorance of its locality; at the same time that we had convincing proof of its being as well known to all the hill men, within several days journey - as the fact of the sun shining at noon every day. * On reaching the lake, we found that on the level ground _ a Fair was held and evidently one of great resort. In the centre of the market site is erected a very large swing, of most substanial consrtruction, with massive iron chains suspended from it. I could get no information regarding the purpose for which this fair is held, every one of the hill men looked mysterious on any thing connected with Nainee Tal. On my return to Almora, I endeavoured to have some light thrown on the subject, but without much success. My friend Mr. Batten of the Civil Service, to whom I am indebted for much that is interesting, and who is more intimately acquainted with the hill people and the hill resources than any one it had previously been my fortune to meet, suggested that lakes in general bore a sacred character among the local hill men, and that he believed Nainee Tal to rank so high, that they were anxious to avoid its pollution by strangers. It struck me and my friend Mr.W, that very probably it might be the scene of some rites, or ceremonies, which the local inhabitants wished to conceal from the knowledge of the local Officers of Government. Another solution of the mystery is, however feasible, and added to the suggestion of Mr. Batten, is likely, to be the true one. Mr. Traill, the late Cornmissioner of Kumaon, who is said to have paid a visit to this lake many years ago, it is well known, possessed the most extraordinary influence among the local hill people, and entertained peculiarly illiberal ideas regarding the influx of European visiters into the Province. This feeling of jealousy, it is notorious, he carried to an incredibly absurd extent; and I would venture to say, and I am sure many will bear me out in the assertion, that he did his best to conceal the existence of such a place as Nainee Tal from all Europeans; knowing well that once seen, it could not fail to being selected as a site for the erection of a Sanatarium. Any one conversant with his system of administration in Kumaon will understand me at once, and feel convinced how easy it was for him to successfully conceal it from the knowledge of Europeans; and it must be remembered that his orders to the locals with this view, were peculiarly agreeable to their own wishes. I have heard anecdotes of Mr. Traills jealousy of European travellers, which exceed even that of the Chinese! The late Mr. Shore acted, when in the Dhoon, on the same principle, and was accustomed to call the influx of European visiters to Mussooree and Landour, a public calamity - a Pindaree invasion. A change has come over the spirit of the dream in Kumaon, for, at this moment, more liberality is practised in its administration, than in any other part of the country where I have travelled. It would take a month to explore the magnificent scenery around Nainee Tal. It is by far the most beautiful sight I have witnessed in the course of a fifteen hundred miles walk the HimmaIa; my recoIlections of it are so vivid, and likely to remain so impressed on the memory, that I doubt not on some future occasion I shall induce to pay it a less hurried visit than my last.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:31:49 +0000
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