ABSTRACT
On the fourteenth of January, 1722, I went from Kattmandù to Badgao, and left again on the twentieth with another Capuchin Father, and with the escort given me by the Kinglet. For some days we ascended and descended high mountains, meeting very few inhabitants until we arrived on a plain where the Kingdom of Nepal ends and that of Bitià begins. I have already said that for many months in the year this road is impassable, being deadly. Anyone daring to take this journey at that time is liable to catch a disease called ol by the natives. This ol is a sort of influenza which prevails in the plains and the valleys through which one is obliged to pass; it is less virulent in the day-time, but pestilential at night or when asleep; being caused by the great heat and humidity. In these valleys the Parbettia [Parvatiyas, inhabitants of Bettiah], as the inhabitants of these mountains are called, sow rice, so the fields are always full of stagnant water at least a handsbreadth deep. Also the water draining off the mountains collects in pools and putrefies, from whence noxious vapours rise in the summer and hang about the valleys, so the air is pestilential. The malady is generally fatal; if the man survives he never really recovers his health. It is true that the men who carry the mail from Nepal to Pattnà, and from Pattnà to Nepal, are obliged to pass at all seasons, but they know the short cuts, avoid the valleys, and spend the nights on the mountains. They also know certain secret remedies and a drink called Bang, water in which dried leaves either of hemp or of some similar plant have been soaked. It is greenish in colour and very refreshing, but makes men stupid and drunk. Many die on the way although they are all natives of these mountains and live for a few months every year in the valleys. You will therefore understand why I passed some months at Kutti, thus interrupting my journey. 6
