492 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XIX, 
to Mukhopadhyay, very similar to the tiles he dug out at 
Pataliputra, the ancient capital of the Mauryas. Mukhopa- 
dhyay adds: “this system of ancient tiling, which I could 
not understand in Bihar or Tirhut and is not known in British 
aieengh is still in vogue in Nepal—where I believe the lost 
arts of India are still living in a precarious way. 
1 may be added that in Tibet the houses are generally 
made of stones held together with mu The r eat forms a 
terrace and consists of a thick coat of | ene clay ona 
supporting structure of wood.! It should however be remem- 
bered that fuel is very scarce in Tibet and even if a people 
from the Chinese side with the knowledge and habit of tile and 
brick making passed through to Nepal they would probably be 
compelled in Tibet to take to other methods of building, suited 
to the country. 
§ 8. In the description of the characteristics of the immi- 
grant culture was included ‘‘ hoe cultivation of a special type ’ 
and later, in the discussion of the origin of Matsyendranatha., it 
was explained as irrigated cultivation. The actual method of 
agriculture in Nepal is to level the land in terraces. with 
borders of about a foot high to retain the water so into 
the fields from streamlets by irrigation channels or accumu- 
lated in the rains.” It may be objected that while cultivation 
may be allowed to have been introduced into Nepal by immi- 
grants, stress cannot be laid on details, and that these might 
have evolved in the country. The existing facts in different 
parts of India itself. however, stand against this view. There 
are a number of rude tribes in different parts of India who 
grow rice, cotton and other such crops for which the Newars use 
irrigation in cultivating, yet the method adopted is exceedingly 
primitive. <A suitable hillside or. plain covered with forest is 
chosen ; the undergrowth is cleared and the smaller trees are 
cut down. After these have been dried by the heat of the sun 
in summer, the jungle is fired. After removing the charred 
logs and débris, the ashes are left undisturbed until the rains 
set in when the seeds are sown, or more precisely, small holes 
are made in the soft earth and a mixture of cotton, rice and 
vegetable seeds ae in. rh at eee is mare to level the 



— 
XXVI; Part I, Caleoine; 1901, Cha ap. Il, 
Many det tails about: the tiles and tite making i in Nepal are given in 
the sd 
| Deagodin ns: ibid., Pp. 379-81 
Alesanoee Cunningham Ladak, pp. 313-14, London, 18 
. iis orient : ibid. on ‘Ageieultinnal and Rural sa Ea af Nepal; 
et seq 
Hodgson : phwameginses anew. vad I (Triibner), ‘‘ On the 
Korb; Bodo and Dhimal Tribes,” p. seq. 
Lewin: Wild Races Pr South i ts Indl (London. 1870), pp. 31-39- 
