556 



Mechanical Instruments of the Nepalese. 



[Nov. 



No. 11. — Dholuck, differs from the dhol in having one end only 

 covered with leather, and played on, is used by the Purbuttiahs 

 but not commonly ; a nearly similar drum, is used by the Newars, 

 and called by them dishi. 



No. 12. — Beh (Newari), commonly called Krishna-beh. Is the 

 pastoral flute of that god (Krishna) so celebrated in history, and so 

 famous in his loves, — is a common reed, with a spoon-shaped shield at 

 the mouth stop : has seven stops along its shaft. 



Specimens of these instruments were deposited in the museum of 

 the Asiatic Society of Bengal in January last. I do not feel at pre- 

 sent competent to give any correct account of the state of the science 

 of music among the Nepalese. In general it may be stated that the 

 Newars are capable of forming bands, containing performers on all 

 the instruments above enumerated, whose music is far from discor- 

 dant although of the simplest construction. The orchestra attendant 

 on a Hindu play enacted here last year was upwards of 50 strong, 

 and in some of the melodramatic portions of the performance, the tunes 

 were not only enlivening and harmonious, but of a highly inspiriting 

 caste. The Nepalese have no written music, so far as I have been 

 able to ascertain. Among the numerous volumes of Sanskrit litera- 

 ture, collected by Mr. Hodgson in Nepal, he informs me there is a very 

 large one of the scenic, and musical acts, which he infers must have 

 flourished very considerably in union with each other, previous to the 

 Goorkha conquest of the valley. In these works the musical science 

 is deemed of sacred origin. The Nepalese music is most probably 

 identical with that of the plains, the Hindu portion of which is traced 

 to the same fountain. 



2. — Agricultural and other Implements. 

 No. 1. — The sugarcane mill or press, called tusd by the Newars, 

 and koulti by the Parbuttiahs. It is of very rude and simple con- 

 struction, but efficient enough for its purpose, among a people who 

 are as yet content to go without the aid of horses and bullocks in 

 the labours of husbandry and mercantile transport. The sugarcane 

 grown in the valley, is for the most part, a small slender species of this 

 plant, which ripens in the months of December and January, when its 

 juice is expressed and evaporated to the semi-crystallised form of gtir, 

 being scarcely further treated by the Newar3 than to the attainment of 

 this coarse saccharine matter. All the chini (soft sugar), and misrt 

 (candy sugar), used in Nepal and its neighbouring portions of Thibet, 

 is imported from the plains of Hindustan. 



