Uttarakhand. 109
in the air. The lake has a island which adds to the beauty of the
lake. At the end of the lake is an old temple which has a
wooden Chhatri or canopy built by a Kumaon Raja Baj, Bahadur
Chand.
There are other lakes in the neighbourhood off the main roads
but known to enthusiastic anglers, such as Sat-Tal, Malwa Tal
and Naukuthiya Tal. Naukuthiya Tal is most famous because
of its nine corners and the legend attached to it. Birds from
Salim Ali's book can be seen here. Another famous lake is
Malwa-ka-tal which lies about twelve kilometres to the east of
Bhimtal and is about 1460 metres by 210 meters.
But the gem amongst pearls of lakes remains NainitaL The
emerald coloured lake is encircled by graceful willows. During
the day, the city with brightly coloured tiny villas and bunglows
and ponies, rikshaws and sail boats backon the visitors to dis-
cover the town in its own special way. And as the sun sinks
behind the mountains, the hill station turns into an enchanting,
alluring fairy land, reflections of the row of lights dancing in the
water to weave mysterious fantasies.
Rain-drenched town
Nainital remains bathed for weeks at a time, soaking in mist
and rain, the average annual rainfall being nearly ninty inches.
Nainital gets maximum rain because it stands on the outer range
of hills, considerably higher than the lower hills adjoining it, and
catches the rain clouds which are thus to a large extent exhausted
before reaching Ranikhet what to say of Almora.
Heavy rain played havoc in Nainital on 18th September 1880
when the entire hillside of China Peak collapsed and made a
clean sweep of Victoria Hotel premises. The entire targedy lias
been thus described by Atkinson, "In a moment the whole pre-
cipitous cliff overhanging the spot fell with a tremendous rear,
burying at once the hotel, the soldiers, the assembly rooms below,
the library, orderly room, road and garden. Almost every person
in the buildings and grounds was entombed, the place shook as
with an earthquake, and the water of the lake was driven to the
south part of it in an immense wave, while vast clouds of dust
rose from the falling masses like volumes of smoke after a tern-