चित्र:Mohuna village, Deobun, Northwest of Landour - 1850s.jpg

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From the Original

The village of Mohuna is situated upon a high ridge in the secondary Himalaya, stretching between the Tonse and the Jumna, which, at this place, is called Deobun, and gives its name to & tract lying to the north-westward of Landour. The ridge itself is characterised by many of the beauties peculiar to these mountain streams, and presents a succession of rugged rocks piled grandly upon each other, entwined with lichens and creepers of every kind and hue, and affording, at intervals, large clefts, whence spring the giant wonders of the soil-magnificent trees of immemse growth and redundant foliage.

The lofty, precipitous, and almost inaccessible rocks above the village, are the favourite haunts of the musk-deer, a denizen of these mountains, and highly prized by hunters, who recklessly scale the apparently insurmountable crags, and risk life and limb to secure this scarce and much-coveted species of game. English sportsmen in the hills often obtain a fair shot at the animal; but the natives have another and surer method of securing the prize. No sooner is a musk-deer espied, than the people of the nearest village are informed of the fact, and the whole population being interested in the intelligence, it is conveyed with extraordinary celerity through the hills. The country being thus up, a cordon is formed round the destined victim; heights are climbed that appear to be perfectly impracticable; and men are to be seen perched like eagles upon the steepest points and pinnacles. The moment that the whole party have taken up their position, the assault is commenced by hurling down large fragments of stone; and presently, the shouts and cries of the hunters so bewilder the affrighted animal, that he knows not where to run. Meantime he is wounded-the ring closes round him-he seeks in vain for some opening, and, in the desperation of his terror, would plunge down the first abyss; but there, also, he is met by horrid shouts; while, struck to the earth by some overpowering blow, he sinks to rise no mote. The musk-deer are seldom met with lower than 8,000 feet above the level of the sea; and every attempt to keep them alive in a state of captivity has failed.

The natives of these districts are generally good natured and obliging, and may be easily managed by kindness: the women are particularly attentive to the Europeans who wander among the mountains, and are said to manifest a very amiable consideration for their comforts.