;>-lG Ethnography and Geography of the Sub-Himalayas. [June, 



Extent, Elevation. 



1. 30 miles,") Crest of snows to f 16 to 10,000 above sea. 



2. 30 miles, > verge of true< 10 to 3000 above sea. 



3. 30 miles, J plains. L 30 °0 to 1000* above sea. 

 Subdivisions of 3, each 10 miles in extent. 



Such is the scheme for giving a convenient nomenclature to the topo- 

 graphy of these mountains, based on their true physiognomy and climate. 

 A better judge of its apparent value could not be than Dr. Hooker, and 

 he feels as much confidence as I do, after much examination of maps 

 compared with the results of my personal knowledge, that the apparent 

 and the real values will prove, in this case, one. So that nomenclative 

 convenience will go hand in hand with a solid and considerable accession 

 to physical Geography. 



And now my feeble state, the consequence of a severe attack of ill- 

 ness, warns me to pause for the present, though your very interesting 

 letter tempts me to dilate on some of the numerous topics thereof. I 

 can only say at present that I congratulate you on your discoveries. 



Note. — The Khas are undoubtedly one of the aboriginal tribes of 

 these mountains, however much the traces of their origin may be 

 obscured by intermixture with the Arian Hindus. And accordingly 

 we find the Khas, like the Kirantis, mentioned in the Purans and in 

 classical authors as barbarian tenants of the Sub-Himalayas. The 

 Khas, however, welcomed the Hindu immigrants into these moun- 

 tains at a very early period, and soon became so intermixed with the 

 Brahmanical and Kshatriya tribes (the genuine Arians) that all physi* 

 cal or lingual traces of their aboriginal lineage are now much weakened 

 or obliterated. And as they have become, since the predominance of the 

 Gorkhali dynasty in Nepal, the dominant race in a Hindu kingdom, 

 they are themselves very anxious that those few traces should remain 

 unnoticed. But no one practised in Ethnological researches can fail to 

 discern the aboriginal and Mongolian origin of the Khas in their forms 

 and faces : nor does their language, how much Prakritized soever want 

 some vestiges of that origin, though the following list of words is not 

 happy in the exhibition of them. All Khas gentlemen in Nepal parade 

 a Rajput origin, and it is no doubt true that by the father's side very 



* Assumed plain level. But it varies from 1200 to 250 between N. W. and S. E. 

 extremes. We must take the plain level a nd correct for it. The elevations, as limits, 

 of course refer to organic life in Zoology and Botany. 



