KUMAON, a district in the N.W. Provinces of British India, including Kumaon proper, Kali Kumaon, and the Bhabar ; it lies between lat. 28° 55' and 30° 50' 30" N., and between long. 52' and 80° 56' 15" E. ; its area is 6000 square miles, and population, in 1872, 433,314 persons. Kumaon district consists, first, of the sub-Him alayan ranges, and, secondly, of the Bhabar or waterless forest, averaging from 10 to 15 miles in breadth, which stretches between the mountains and the Terai. The original Khasiya, or inhabit ants of Khasdes, mentioned by the Hindu law giver Menu some 2500 years ago, were Hindus, and identical with the modern tribe of Khasiya. The Dom rank as the lowest of the Khasiya, and until the British occupation they were the predial slaves of the landholders. Every crag and summit has its local deity and shrine, at which kids are offered in sacrifice ; at the larger temples at river junctions, buffaloes are similarly slaughtered. The obnoxious custom of polyandry is here unknown, but polygamy is frequent. The Bhabar or southern portion is about 10 to 15 miles broad. It consists of the loose alluvial detritus of the lower hills. It is of considerable elevation, with a total absence of running water, but is bounded on the south by a line of springs which mark the northern boundary of the Terai district. Up to 1850, the Bhabar was an almost impenetrable forest, given up to wild animals, and is still mostly unreclaimed jungle. Elephants arc found in the Bhabar and in the forests bordering on the Siwalik Hills. The mura fly is very troublesome in the months of April and May. Limestone, sandstone, slate, gneiss, and granite constitute the principal geo logical formations of the dist4et. The majority of the Hindus belong to the trils of Khasiyas, identi fied by some with the inhabitants of the Khassya Hills in Assam. Tice crests of the watershed
range' which separates the Indus and Sutlej systems, is in general very great the Niti pass , is 16,570 feet above the sea, the ana pass is 18,760 feet, the Juhar or Milani p s, 17,270, and that of the Lanpya Dhura pass 'n Byans, 18,000. The elevation of the Terai varies from GOO to 1000 feet. The first mountain range rises 4300 feet, and the second 7700 feet. - Srinuggur, in a valley on the the Alaknanda, is 1500 feet. The mountains of the outer ranges rise to 7000 feet in many places, and in the interior attain to 10,000 feet ; while still farther north many rise to 20,000, and a few above 24,000 feet, and Nandadevi 25,750 feet. The highest mountain west of Nepal is in this province. The loftiest, as elsewhere in the Himalaya, are never on the axis of the chain, but are still farther north, and its great elevation may be judged of from the heights of the passes over it. Of these, pro ceeding from the eastward, may be mentioned the Feet. Feet. Feet.
Lanpya, . 18,000 Niti, . . 15,570 Mani Tal, 6,500 Lakhur, . 18,400 Mans, . 18,760 Bhim Tal, 4,000 Balch, . 17,700 Almora, . .5,500 The vegetation of Kumaon includes fully 2000 flowering plants.
Kumaon and Garhwal furnish gold, copper, iron, lead, sulphur, borax, soapstone, silijit or native sulphate of alumina, gypsum, graphite, lignite, asbestos. The Pakhri copper mine is in Pargana Nagpur in Garhwal, also at Rai in Gangoli, at Sin in Barabisi, and at Sor.
Kumaon porters carry their loads on their heads; those of Garhwal on their backs.—Imp. Gaz.