1835.] Notice of the Nipdlese Spirit Still. 288 



original inhabitants*. At the present time they form the great mass 

 of the agricultural and artisan population, and the ruins of their well- 

 built temples and towns painfully manifest the giving place of their 

 civilization to the rude and barbarian horde of mountaineers who 

 now consume in military idleness the fruits of their fertile fields. 

 Like other tribes of the human race, the Newars have lost their day 

 of progress, and little remains to them now, save their eminently in- 

 dustrious habits, and a skill in agriculture far exceeding in efficiency 

 that attained and practised in the neighbouring plains of Hindustan. 

 The fate of the Newars, and the many good qualities by which they 

 are distinguished, renders all connected with them of much interest. 

 Their original country, previous to their advent in Nepal, remains as 

 yet undecided. The decidedly Tartarian cast of their physical form, and 

 monosyllabic structure of their language, makes Thibet claim them as 

 her's. The most popular fabulous traditions of the race point to India 

 as the source of their existence, while the religious creed as a means 

 of arriving at a correct knowledge of their origin has, as yet, I be- 

 lieve, proved defectivef. 



The manners and customs of a people, when known, go far to shew 

 the intimacy of connexion with neighbouring countries ; and, I be- 

 lieve, that were those of the Newars (in such purity as they existed 

 before the Gurkha conquest) taken as an index to their original 

 country, few links of close connexion would remain to bind them to 

 India, while many and strong ones would shew their Bhoteah origin. 

 The still, then, as an instrument of universal use, supposing it un- 

 known in India, and to be the only one used in neighbouring Thibet, 

 will go for something (trifling enough it is true) in the enumeration 

 of domestic usages; and I now return to it. 



The furnace on which the still is represented as resting, while at 

 work, is commonly the clay chula of India, or made of unburned 

 bricks. The body of the still (phdsi) is of copper, and is seldom 

 made to contain more than 15 or 20 gallons, and costs from 30 to 40 

 mohuri rupees}:. Over the open mouth of the phusi is placed the 

 portion marked (3) named putasi; it is of burned clay, about the 

 same size as the body of the still, and has a circle of round perfora- 

 tions, each the size of a crown-piece, flanking the large opening at its 

 base, as represented in (7) of the sketch. The junction of the phusi 

 and putasi being secured by a luting of moist clay, the receiver nam- 



* See Mr. Hodgson's paper on the Aborigines of N£pal Proper, in the Jour- 

 nal of the Asiatic Society, for May, 1834. 



t It is calculated that about two-thirds of the Newdr population of Nepal are 

 Buddhists, the remainder Brahminical Hindus. 



+ One mohuri rupee is equal to 12§ annas sicca. 

 N N 2 



