602 Note on the Limboos, and other Hill Tribes. [No. 102. 



dressed in the purple robe of the Thibetan Lamas, with broad- brimmed 

 hats, carrying in their hands the revolving hour glass-like apparatus 

 of the Buddhists, the name of which I forget, but believe it to be 

 symbolical of time, muttering prayers and incantations to its move- 

 ments. They sing, beg, dance, cast out devils, and prescribe medica- 

 ments to the sick ; attend at births, marriages, feasts, and funerals ; and 

 are held in considerable awe, if not in veneration. " The Bijooa's god 

 is not a beneficent one ; when he curses you, his words are sure to come 

 to pass ; when he blesses, there is a real blessing attending it ; you never 

 should allow him to leave your door dissatisfied, for surely something 

 bad will happen to you, whereas, if he leaves it contented, you infallibly 

 grow fat, and remain contented." Such is the information seriously 

 given regarding these mountebank priests by the simple people who 

 feed and propitiate them in the belief of their mysterious powers. 



The "Phedangbo" is the especial priest of the Limboos, and is 

 entirely disregarded by the Lepchas, who are not indifferent to the 

 powers of the Bijooa. He holds converse with the gods, officiates at 

 sacrifices, deaths, and marriages, and is also unlettered. The calling 

 is generally hereditary. Bijooas and Phedangbos marry, although there 

 is no necessary separation of the priesthood from the laity, by reason of 

 birth. " In a family of six or eight sons, one is generally a priest ; this 

 one fancies he has had — and when he says so he is believed to have — a 

 call to the sacred office." In fact, he feels within him that he can 

 propitiate the gods, therefore he becomes henceforward a Phedangbo. 



Marriages. 

 " When a Limboo desires to have a wife, he looks about and fixes 

 on a young girl who takes his fancy, then he sends a friend with two or 

 four rupees to her father's house to gain his consent to the union, and 

 arrange preliminaries of the sum of money to be paid, and the time of 

 performing the ceremony. When these are concluded, he sends the 

 remainder of the purchase money, which altogether rarely exceeds ten 

 or twelve rupees, and proceeds to the ceremony accompanied by a 

 " Phedangbo" and some one carrying a couple of fowls. The young 

 pair being seated side by side, are sworn to connubial chastity by the 

 priest, who now places a hen in the hands of the bride, and gives the 

 cock into those of the bridegroom. A plantain leaf is laid on the ground 

 between the animals ; the priest repeating some gibberish, cuts off the 



