April, 1848. LEPCHAS, CUSTOMS AND MARRIAGES. 1.°,:? 



poison, and hence fetch an enormous price ; they are of a 

 peculiar wood, rarer and paler-coloured. I have paid a 

 guinea for one such, hardly different from the common 

 sort, which cost but 4r/. or 6d. MM. Hue and Gabet 

 graphically allude to this circumstance, when wishing to 

 purchase cups at Lhassa, where their price is higher, as 

 they are all imported from the Himalaya. The knots from 

 which they are formed, are produced on the roots of oaks, 

 maples, and other mountain forest trees, by a parasitical 

 plant, known to botanists as Batanophora. 



Their intoxicating drink, which seems more to excite 

 than to debauch the mind, is partially fermented Murwa 

 grain {Eleusine Coracana). Spirits are rather too strong 

 to be relished raw, and when a glass of wine is given to 

 one of a party, he sips it, and hands it round to all the 

 rest. A long bamboo flute, with four or six burnt holes 

 far below the mouth-hole, is the only musical instrument 

 I have seen in use among them. When travelling, and the 

 fatigues of the day are over, the Lepchas will sit for hours 

 chatting, telling stories, singing in a monotonous tone, 

 or blowing this flute. I have often listened with real 

 pleasure to the simple music of this rude instrument ; its 

 low and sweet tones are singularly iEolian, as are the 

 airs usually played, which fall by octaves : it seems to 

 harmonize with the solitude of their primaeval forests, and 

 he must have a dull ear who cannot draw from it the 

 indication of a contented mind, whether he may relish its 

 soft musical notes or not. Though always equipped for 

 the chase, I fancy the Lepcha is no great sportsman ; 

 there is little to be pursued in this region, and he is not 

 driven by necessity to follow what there is. 



Their marriages are contracted in childhood, and the 

 wife purchased by money, or by service rendered to the 



