100 Note on the Pronunciation of the Tibetan Language. [No. 2, — 
centuries after the invention of the alphabet, that the pronunciation — 
was already altered to that of the present day.. It is not impossible : 
that a more complete dictionary of this language in both its dialects, — 
that of Kunawar and that of Lahoul, and perhaps also of other un- 
written Himalayan dialects and languages, situated as they are — 
between the great Tibetan and Indian families, might afford more — 
than one interesting result with regard to the history of the Tibetan 
language and the histories of the people of these countries, in their 
political situations as well in their civilisation. If such investigations || 
happened to be aided by the discovery of local records of such a 
kind as formed the history of Sikkim, destroyed by the Nepalese 
soldiery (v. Hooker’s Him, Journ. I, p, 331) it might be possible to 
clear up parts of the history of these countries hitherto very obscure. 
It would seem to me as if the collection of words given above, 
might suggest the conjecture that the first of the two iruptions of 
Tibetan power and influence into these valleys, inhabited by Boonan- 
speaking mountaineers, was merely of a political nature, carrying” ; 
with it such institutions as taxes, very probably the first thing which — 
the small population of a secluded yalley is likely to be taught by a 
foreign invader,—some new articles of manufacture (cotton cloth, car- — 
pets, &c.), words for the higher numerals, and some others; whereas 
the second,—perhaps going on in a more quiet and slow way,—brought - 
with it judicial and governmental institutions of a somewhat higher ¥ 
order, and the religious and philosophical ideas as well as usages of 
Buddhism. = 

