94 REPORT 1851. 



As we recede in our progress to the north, behind the higher summits of the range, 

 the country rapidly becomes more aridj and when we reach the plain of Tibet, we 

 find it to be almost a desert, on which few plants rise even to the height of a single 

 foot. 



The vegetation, which, though scanty, is still highly interesting from its similarity 

 to that of the arctic regions, may be considered finally to cease at about 17,000 or 

 18,000 feet. 



After referring to the agriculture of this tract, in vvhich the profitable cultivation 

 of the cereal grains was shown to be carried up to about 14,000 feet, Capt. Strachey 

 concluded by an account of some of the zoological characteristics of the Tibetan 

 plateau. He mentioned more particularly the Kt/ang or Wild Ass, the Yak, the 

 wild and domestic Sheep and Goat, the Ounce, and other animals, specimens of 

 which he brought with him from that country, and which have lately been set up in 

 the East India Company's Museum, 



On the Inhabitants of Kumdon and Garhwdl. 

 By John Strachet, Bengal Engineers. 



After alluding to the difficulty of arriving at satisfactory conclusions regarding the 

 ethnological relations of the tribes inhabiting the Himalaya, in consequence of that 

 range of mountains lying on the boundar3'-line between two or more races, Mr. 

 Strachey proceeded to give some account of the people called Khasiya, which com- 

 prises the greaterpart of the inhabitants oF Kumaon and Garhwdl. A tribe of the same 

 name is spread extensively over the greater part of the Nepalese territories, and it 

 has been assumed, from this circumstance and other facts observed in the eastern 

 parts of the Himalaya, that the Khasiyas generally are a people of mixed Tibetan 

 and Indian race. Although this may perhaps be true of the Khasiyas of Eastern 

 Nepal, Mr. Strachey considered that it was by no means proved to be the case as to 

 those of Kumaon, and he doubted whether the signs of any non-Indian stock were 

 more definite in the people of Kumaon than in those of the plains of Northern Hin- 

 dustan, In form and feature, in language, religion, and customs, the Khasiyas of 

 Kumaon appear to be Hindu, and all their sentiments and prejudices are so strongly 

 imbued with the peculiar spirit of that faith, that although their social habits and 

 religion are often repugnant to Hindu orthodoxy, it is difficult for one who knows 

 them to consider them as anything but Hindu. The custom of polyandry does not 

 prevail in Kumaon and Garhwal, Mr. Strachey pointed out why he considered that 

 the existence of this custom did not necessarily prove descent from a Tibetan stock, 

 and how it might grow up in a purely Hindu community, as a consequence of the 

 general social state. Historical evidence helps to confirm the opinion that the 

 Khasiyas of Kumaon are of Hindu origin. It is proved by ancient inscriptions found 

 in Garhwal, that, say fifteen hundred years ago, the Hindu religion was in full force 

 in these provinces, and that in the country itself the people were then known by the 

 name Khasa, In Manu, the Mahabharata, and in several of the Puranas, we read of 

 a race of Kshatriyas called Khasa, dwellers in mountains, who have become degraded 

 by the neglect of religious rites, and it is curious thac the Khasiyas of Kumaon at 

 the present day give an almost exactly similar account of themselves. After speaking 

 of some of the social and economical peculiarities of the Khasiyas, Mr. Strachey pro- 

 ceeded to give an account of the Bhotiyas, the most important of the tribes of 

 Tibetan origin found in Kumaon and Garhwdl, inhabiting the country near the 

 Tibetan frontier, among the highest parts of the Himalayan chain. Their villages 

 are situated at elevations varying from 7000 to 12,000 feet above the sea ; but the 

 Bhotiyas derive their chief means of subsistence, not from agriculture, but from the 

 carrying trade between Tibet and the Cis-Himalayan states, of which they possess a 

 monopoly. An account was given of this trade, and of their general habits, religion, 

 languages, &c. Of their Tibetan origin there can be no doubt. The adjoining pro- 

 vince of Tibet was also referred to. The name of this country is Hundes, the land 

 of Htins ; not Hiundes, the snow-country, nor Oondes, the wool-country, as it has 

 been variously termed. Fron ancient inscriptions found in Garhwal, of which Mr. 

 Strachey intended to give an account hereafter, it is proved that the country in ques- 



