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KUMAON.
"KUMAON, a province now
subject to Britain, comprises the whole tract of country between the
Ganges and the Kalee, and includes a large portion of the principality of
Gurwhal. On the north, its
frontier line along the Himalayas extends from longitude 79° 15',
latitude 31° 4', to longitude 80° 45',
latitude 30° 10', giving a line of about a hundred English miles.
The entire area of the province
(inclusive of the British portion of Gurwhal) is perhaps not less than 10,000
square miles; but Kumaon,
properly so called, lies between the Kalee, or Gogra, and the Ramgunga rivers,
and does not exceed
7000 square miles in area. Like other parts of Northern Hindustan,
this territory is thinly populated;
it is calculated, however, that about 6000
Brahmin families are settled in different parts of this
province.
The Kumaon dialect is closely allied to the
Hinduwee. A version of the New Testament was
commenced at Serampore in 1815,
but appears to have been printed only as far as the Epistle to the
Colossians. The death of the Kumaon pundit employed in the
translation, about the year 1826, put
a stop to its farther progress through the press. As there are no
mies. in Kumaon, and con-
sequently no means of distributing the word of
God in that province, the suspension of
the under-
taking is the less to be regretted."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860,
Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info only]
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