Literary References To Nainital - Josiah Bateman

Josiah Bateman

1860. From (the public domain), The Life of The Right Rev. Daniel Wilson, D.D., Late Lord Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India, Volume II, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, 1860. Chapter XVII (First Metropolitan Visitation): "Onwards through Futtehgur and Bareilly he passed to a new mountain station, called Nynee-Thal. Concerning it, he writes":

'Nynee-Thal, 6,200 feet (1,900 m) above the level of the sea.' 'February 23, 1844.' 'We came up here yesterday, fourteen miles (21 km), by one of those strange, winding, precipitous roads, common to all mountainous countries. The air is keen and penetrating. The spot is one of those beautiful scenes with which the Himalayahs abound. Its peculiarity is an enclosure of rocks, two thousand feet above the spot itself, and covered with hanging woods, protecting, as it were, with their giant forms the peaceful lake, or "Thal," below. Around this lake the gentry are beginning to erect their houses, as at Simlah and Mussooree. The whole is like the "Happy Valley" of Rasselas. We halt here, on our way to Almorah, longer than we should otherwise do, because of the movement of troops. A site for a church (Note: to be later named St. John in the Wilderness) has been chosen; and to lay the foundation is my special business here. Beasts of prey, tigers, leopards, &c., abound so fearfully, that there is no stirring out without guides, armed with guns and spears'

"The visit to this spot was, however, evidently premature. The season was far too early. Not a single European was in residence. The Bishop was compelled to take shelter in a miserable, half-finished, and totally unfurnished house. He caught a bad cold, and was taken very ill; and after moving to Almorah, kept his bed for some days. It was not till the 8th March that he was able to consecrate the little church at Almorah, designed on his former visit."