The Fort of Kutool Gur'h Key of Kalee Kumaoon - 1815

Watercolour by Hyder Young Hearsey (1782-1840)of the fort of Kutulgarh at Kumaon, Uttar Pradesh, dated 1815. The strong fortress of Kutulgarh a few miles north of Champavat seems perched on a conical mass of rock. Mistakenly thinking it was depleted of supplies, Hearsey's force invested it in March 1815. Hearsey left some of his small force strung out along the Kali river to prevent Gurkha incursions across it. In the meantime, the Gurkhas had spared enough men under Hastidal to counter this threat to Kumaon, crossed the Kali from the east on March 31. Hearsey hastened to its defence, but being outnumbered, his raw Rohilla levies deserted him, and he was wounded, captured and imprisoned at Almora until the end of April. Hearsey accompanied two expeditions into Tibet, to discover the source of the Ganges; in 1808, with Lieutenant Webb and Captain Raper, and in 1812, with William Moorcroft, when they became the first Europeans to reach the sacred lake of Manasarowar.

Source : British Library