OF KAMAON. 217 



comrannlcation between villages is commonly both tedious and laborious, and 

 the intercourse of the inhabitants of even adjacent hamlets is confined to the 

 periodical festivals which occur at neighbouring temples : on these occa- 

 sions again, the meeting is composed wholly of the villagers of the surround- 

 ing district, and the presence of individuals from other parts of the hills is 

 viewed almost as an intrusion. This state of restricted intercourse, continued 

 through ages, has tended to preserve a distinctness of character and manners 

 among the mountaineers, who accordingly still exhibit the compound of vir- 

 tues and defects common to agricultural tribes in a rude stage of society. Ho- 

 nest, sober, frugal, patient under fatigue and privations, hospitable, good hu- 

 moured, open, and usually sincere in their address, they are, at the same time, 

 extremely indolent, fickle, easily led away by the counsel of others, hasty in 

 pursuing the dictates of passion, even to their own immediate detriment, 

 envious (f each other, jealous of strangers, capable of equivocation and petty 

 cunning, and lastly, grossly superstitious. To personal courage, the lower 

 order make no pretensions ; the high Rajput families, who are most part de- 

 scended from western adventurers, are in no way deficient in the inherent 

 spirit of their race. Conjugal affection has scarcely any existence in the hills ; 

 wives are universally considered and treated as part of the live stock, and 

 little or no importance is attached to the breach of female chastity, except- 

 ing when the prejudices of caste may thereby be compromised. To their 

 children, they, however, evince strong affection, and instances of suicide, by 

 fathers as well as mothers, from grief for the loss of a child, are far from 

 uncommon. The indolence of the male sex is insuperable, even by the pros- 

 pect of gain, and the whole labor of the domestic economy and of agriculture, 

 excepting only ploughing and harrowing, is left to the women ; and a rate of 

 wages, greater by one half than that which exists in the plains, fails in induc- 

 ing the voluntary attendance of day labourers : the people of this class will, 

 however, without hesitation wander hundreds of miles, and spend weeks to 

 gain a few annas by peddling the commodities of the plains. All mountaineers 



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