J 844.] and on Gerard's Account of Kund war. 179 



as more particularly the wife of the eldest brother. This institution 

 is necessary to limit population, where it is impossible to extend agri- 

 culture, where mineral wealth has not been developed, and where the 

 people have scarcely begun to carry on an extensive and profitable trade. 



Trade, 8$c. — The want of organized priesthood, and the institution 

 of Polyandry are the only circumstances connected with the social 

 condition of this people that need be separately mentioned. They are 

 mostly agriculturists, but do not on the whole produce as much as 

 they consume; all have some flocks and herds, and the people of the 

 north have of late become enterprizing traders. They proceed to Leh 

 to buy the drug called char as, and to Goro, and almost to the foot 

 of the Karakorum range to procure shawl. wool. For these, they give 

 in exchange money, cloths, and spices, and were the dangerous and 

 difficult roads improved and kept in repair, the Kunawarees might 

 soon become the principal carriers of the trade between middle Tarta- 

 ry and Upper India. At present, the paths are scarcely practicable for 

 loaded mules, and the merchandize is chiefly carried on the backs 

 of sheep and goats. All the people trade in a petty way, for they 

 exchange woollens and fruits for grain and salt. 



Food, Clothing, and Houses. — The Kunawarees live chiefly on corn, 

 but meat is occasionally used by those in fair circumstances, and the lat- 

 ter also occasionally indulge in tea procured from Lassa. The people 

 dress in woollens of their own manufacture at all seasons of the year, 

 and towards the north, they add a skeepskin cloak during the winter. 

 The women have a profusion of brass ornaments, and of shell or other 

 beads. The men carry a flint and steel at their waist, and both sexes 

 love to adorn themselves with gaudy flowers, the one most sought 

 after being the French marigold. In the neighbourhood of the forests, 

 their houses are built of wood and stone, and their temples are pretty 

 in themselves, and picturesque in connection with the surrounding 

 scenery. In the extreme north, the scarcity of wood makes the people 

 content with mere hovels of mud and unhewn stone. 



Notes on Moorcroft's Travels in Ladakh and on Gerard's 

 account of kunawar. 

 Religion of the Kunawarees, — Caste or Race in Kunawar and Ti- 

 fo*.— The religion of the mass of inhabitants (of Kunawar,) is Hin- 



2 E 



