380 Note on the Lepchas of Sikkim. [No. 100. 



extent of about 120 miles from north-west to south-east, along 

 the southern face of the Himalaya ; to the west, the Tambar 

 branch of the Koori bounds it ; but on the east its limits are un- 

 defined in the mountains of Bootan. Thus they are found 

 among the subjects of eastern Nipal, throughout the whole of 

 Sikkim, and extending an unknown distance into Bootan. I 

 believe however that they are found in very small numbers in- 

 deed further east than fifty miles beyond the Teestah, although 

 a few of them are said to be located as far east as Punnuka, 

 and Tassgong.* 



The Khamba although now the same in all essentials of 

 language, customs, and habits, as the Rong, is professedly, 

 and undoubtedly, an emigrant from beyond the Himalaya. 

 They state themselves to have come from a province of China, 

 called Kham, which is described as lying to the east and north 

 of Lhassa, about thirty days' journey. This province has not been 

 very long annexed to the Chinese empire, and if the accounts 

 I have heard from members of the Nipalese Missions to Pekin 

 are to be relied on, its rulers and inhabitants are even now 

 far from being well governed and peaceable subjects of the 

 celestial dynasty. They are represented as a herd of lawless 

 thieves and robbers, through whose country it is scarce safe 

 to travel, even when under the protection of an escort from 

 the Court of Pekin. 



The Khambas reckon seven generations since their arri- 

 val on this side the snows, which may be computed at 200 

 years. They were headed by the first ancestor of the present 

 Sikkim Raja, who is himself a Khamba. Previous to the arrival 

 of the Khambas, it is said that great confusion existed among 

 the Lepcha and Bhotia aborigines of Sikkim, in consequence of 

 the incessant struggles for supremacy between their chiefs ; 

 they however had priests (Lamas) from Paling Goombah, 

 beyond the snows, whose advice was often followed in temporal 

 matters, and when it appeared to these learned leaders that 

 it was hopeless to quiet dissensions by ordinary means, they 

 suggested that a Raja should be sought for in some distant 



* Towns in Bootan ; see Pemberton's report. 



