344 NARRATIVE OF A 



parts of India, to send their ag'.nts here, to establish 

 a kind of central communication, between Bootaan 

 and the lower H'lndustmi. Many of tliese people have 

 settlcil for the rest of their li\ es, and their famihes, 

 naturahzcd, and knowing no other homes, have con- 

 tinued, and encreascd. IVom the (hfrcrence, in 

 stature and features, between these people and th« 

 aborigines of the country, it may be concluded that 

 they have little or no intercourse together. The lat- 

 trtr are of lower stature, they have better proportioned 

 limbs, faces rounder, eyes a little smaller, and noses 

 shorter, but not flattened. 



The dress of the Sirinas:ur mountains is seldom 

 more, among the men, in the cold season, than a 

 course thick blanket, folded loosely over the body, 

 so as to cover all the breast, and reaching just below 

 the knee. The legs and arms remain uncovered ; on 

 their heads they wear a small cap, and on their feet, 

 a kind of netted sandal, made of leather thongs, with 

 soles of thicker leather. In the hot season, they 

 wear a kind of frock, of a coarse cloth, manufactur- 

 ed in the country, from the common cultivated hemp. 

 This the women also wear, made into a close bodied 

 kind of gown and petticoat, with sleeves to the el- 

 bow, above the breast draAving together with a 

 string. Over all, they wear a loose cotton cloth, of 

 lighter texture ; they have seldom any other orna- 

 ments than beads of glass about their necks, and 

 rings of various coloured glass upon their wrists. 



I observed many of the natives of Sirinagur afflicted 

 uith those tumours in the. neck commonly called 

 v.'cns : some were of a very large size, but never 

 troublespiriC, or attended with pain. From my en- 

 quiries, this disorder is not general through the 

 country, but incident only to those natives who re- 

 .side near rivers which receive increase from the melt- 

 ing snows. 



