1894] 
E. Vansittart— Tribes , Clans , awe? Castes of Nepal. 
213 
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The Tribes, Clans, and Castes of Nepal. By Captain Eden Vansittart, 
5 th Gurkhas. 1 
[Read, February, 1894.] 
Population. —The population of Nepal is estimated at about 
2,000,000, which, if we calculate the area at 54,000 square miles, gives 
37 per square mile. This, though a low density of population, is as much 
as we should expect, considering the mountainous nature of the country. 
I consider this estimate as to population a very low one. Nepalese 
authorities give the population as over 5,000,000, and the Resident, 
Col. Wylie, considers this about the correct figure. 
Aboriginal inhabitants. —The great aboriginal stock of Nepal is 
Turanian. The fact is inscribed in characters so plain on their faces 
forms, and languages, that it is unnecessary to trace their origin histori¬ 
cally. The different tribes, as they occur, in a tolerably regular series 
from the Kali river on the west to the Michi river on the east, are — 
ls£.—Cis-Himalayan Bhotiyas 3 
or Tibetans. 
2nd. —Sunwar. 
3rd.—Gurung. 
4 th. —Magar. 
5 th. —Murml. 
6th. —Newar. 
7th' —Kironti. 
8th. —Limbu. 
9 th. —Lepcbas. 
The cis-Himalayan Bhotiyas are found pretty generally diffused 
throughout the whole extent of the limits of the Michi and the Kali 
rivers, but are confined to the higher Alpine regions under the snows. 
The Gurungs and Magars (military tribes), having participated in 
the Gurkha conquest, spread east and west, in no scanty numbers, to 
the Michi and the Kali. The rest of the tribes have a more restricted 
fatherland or janma bhumi, and the locale of the Gurungs and Magars was 
similarly circumscribed before the Gurkha conquest, for their real 
habitat is to the west of the great valley of Nepal. The valley of Nepal 
1 [The transcription of most of the Tribe*names in this article is that given 
by the author. The Society has, as yet, no authorised system of transliteration for 
Tibeto-Burman words. Ed.] 
3 The name of the country known to us as Tibet is “ BhSy” 
