4G0 



The Valley of Nepaul 



moisture of the soil, and warmth of the air during the rains conduce 

 greatly to a profusion of insect life in the valley, and at that season the 

 air actually teems with thousands of these busy creatures, none of 

 which, save those above enumerated, are accused of being at all inju- 

 rious to the cultivated productions of the country. 



The next circumstance to be glanced at is an interesting one. The 

 people employed in the cultivation of the valley are composed of two 

 distinct races of men, which are divided into several totally different 

 tribes. The Newars, who form by far the greater part of the agricul- 

 tural classes (perhaps in the proportion of 6 or 8 to 1), personify in 

 features, language to a considerable extent, in religion, and in usages, 

 the Chinese or Thibetian race. The Brahmuns and the Khas of the 

 Parbutteah division of the population represent the other or Indian 

 race. The Mayars, Gurungs or Murmis, who form the remaining 

 tribes, do not so readily admit of correct classification as these races.* 

 The two former profess Hindooism and practice its ordinances in a 

 very convenient and easily accomplished fashion. While the last, the 

 Murmis, profess and practice the Boodhist religion and have a lan- 

 guage like the Newars, indubitably derived from the trans-Himalayan 

 stocks?. 



The Newars cultivate almost the whole of the land on the flats of 

 both levels; they use the digging hoe exclusively for turning up the 

 soil and live in towns and villages of tile and brick. The brahmuns 

 and Parbutteahs are generally, if including Mayars and Gurungs, en- 

 gaged in cultivating the soil. They occupy the confines of the valley,, 

 the subordinate valley which recedes from it, and the lands fit for 

 yielding crops along the declivities of the mountain bases. These 

 people use the plough partially, but not generally, and live in insulat- 

 ed cottages built of stone, or unburnt bricks, and generally thatched, 

 rarely tiled. 



The Murmis (indifferently distinguished by this name or by that of 

 Bhooteas) cultivate generally the hill soils facing the valley, rarely 

 holding lands on the flooded flats, and often extending their little 

 patches of cultivated land and their mud and stone built and grass 



* The whole mass of the population is readily referred by physiognomy and language ta 

 the Northern or Mongoul race, but is divisible by language dialectical! yj and by palpable 

 v arieties of the same caste of formed features ; these divisions are for the whole king- 

 dom, Limbu, Lapchu, Kiranti, Kacharia, Murmi, Newar, Jaria, Gurung, Mayar, Khas. 

 The last is a mongrel race derived from an indigenous tribe so termed and from low land 

 emigrants, chiefly of the sacred order, who have essentially modified the Tataric attri- 

 butes of the Khas. The other tribes are still in speech and aspect Northmen, and most 

 closely affiliated,— B. II. IIojjgson. 



