We came to a strange cave, only a few yards deep and some 30 feet high, in the side of a hill. The natives had told me that no animal could enter it without dying, and, in fact, when we peeped into it we saw a number of skeletons of dogs, other small mammals, and birds. On stooping down, one of my men and I were immediately seized with giddiness and a fainting sensation, and had we not been quick enough in jumping out into the open air we might have possibly collapsed, owing to the noxious gases which emanated from the ground in the cave. A peculiar sulphurous odour was noticeable, even some little distance from the cave. It is in its effects very much like the “Grotta dei Cani” of Naples, only this one seemed more deadly. The gases seem to hang low upon the ground, not more than about 3 or 3½ feet, although on entering the cave one felt at once a stifling sensation, even when standing upright. We two who had stooped suffered from a severe headache for some hours.
Before we leave the Darma district, a word on the history of the natives may be of interest. The Darma Shokas are in many ways—and in facial [[222]]appearance—very different from the Shokas of Chaudas and Bias, and, although their origin is undoubtedly Mongolian from Tibet, their traditions vary very considerably from those of the other Shokas. According to some authorities the Darma Shokas are the descendants of a horde of Mughals who were endeavouring to take possession of Kumaon during the time that Timur was occupying a portion of that country. This horde, which is supposed to have entered Kumaon from the plains and not over the mountains, was eventually reduced to very small numbers, and driven to the mountains, where they finally settled, practically undisturbed, in the Darma Valley. Darma, like the other Shoka districts (Bias and Chaudas), formerly belonged to Tibet, and it was not till the Gorkhali administration that Darma, with Bias and Chaudas, was annexed to Kumaon.
Even now, as we have already seen, the Tibetans exercise a serious influence upon those natives, the Shokas of all these districts, however willing to be faithful and loyal to us, having never received protection nor the meagrest justice from the British Government.
The Sacrifice of a Yak
At the death of a tribesman the animal is precipitated from a high cliff on which it has been driven.
Personally, I do not quite share the opinion that the Darma Shokas came from the plains or from [[223]]Tibet by way of the plains. They resemble quite closely the Kam-par or Tibetans from Kam, with whom they are to this day in constant communication. In fact, it is chiefly with the Kam-par tribe and Gyanema that the Darma Shokas do all their trading. The more massive features and stronger facial characteristics of the Darma Shokas have been acquired, I think, more through their frequent intercourses with Jumlis and other tribes of Western Nepal, which gives them a wilder appearance than the more purely Mongolian stolid types, such as the Bias Shokas.
In many ways the Darma Shokas do not possess the refined and gentlemanly feelings so strikingly common among Bias Shokas, nor are they quite so honest and reliable. But they, too, possess good hearts, are somewhat impetuous and excitable, and occasionally addicted to murder. [[224]]