642 Route from Kathmandu to Darjeling. [Dec. 



is the property of the government. Iron and copper abound in Nepal. 

 Most of the iron is consumed in the magazines for the army or other- 

 wise within the country. But a deal of the copper is exported and 

 forms a good part of the pice currency of the plains on this side the 

 Ganges. The Nepalese are very military. Khas, Maghar, Gurung 

 and even brahmans, except those of the priesthood, constantly wear 

 sidearms of home manufacture ; and the large army of the State is 

 furnished with muskets, swords, and Khukris from native ore. Thus 

 much iron is consumed, so that none is exported, at least none in the 

 unwrought state, possibly because from defective smelting the ore be- 

 comes hardened by the accession of fumes of charcoal, and is thus ren- 

 dered unfit for those uses to which soft iron is applied. From Ghorli 

 Kharak, an ascent of quarter cos to Fakharibas, the halting place, which 

 is a Gurung village, large but scattered, according to the wont of that 

 tribe. 



17th Stage to DkanMta, South East, 2\ cos. 

 After a severe ascent of a cos and half a wide flat-topped mountain is 

 gained, whence there is a fine view of the plains, and on the top of which 

 is a small lake, very deep, and about half a cos in circumference. Its 

 name is Hilia, and the water is clear and sweet. Thence a steep descent 

 of one cos brings you to Dhankuta, distant from Kathmandu 78 stand- 

 ard* cos by the great military road, as recorded on the mile- stone at 

 Dhankuta. Dhankuta is the largest and most important place in East- 

 ern Nepal, and the head-quarters of the civil and military administra- 

 tor of all the country east of the Dud Cosif to the Sikim frontier, 

 excepting only what is under the inferior and subordinate officer 

 stationed at Ham, who has a separate district bounded towards Dhan- 

 kuta by the Tamdr river. Bijaypur, Chayanpur, Manjh-Kirant and 

 a great part of the Limbuan are subject to Dhankuta, where usually 

 resides a Kaji or Minister of the first rank, who likewise commands the 

 troops stationed there. After defraying the local expenses, he remits 

 annually nine lakhs of revenue to Kathmandu. Towards the plains 



* The itinerary gives 7H cos. The difference has been explained in a prior note. 

 The standard cos of Nepal is equal to 2£ English miles. 



t The central administration extends to the Dud C6si. See essay on the laws 

 and legal administration of Nepal in the Transactions of the Society, Vol. 17, and 

 Journal of Royal Asiatic Society. 



