58 L. A. Waddell —Place and River-names in Silchim, 8fc. [No. 2, 
■which may be included the Limbu dialect which seems structurally 
allied to it, (2) the Tibetan or Bhotiya, including its Sikhimite and 
Bhotan dialects, and (3) the Sanskritic dialect (Parbatiya) of the 
Nepali Pahariyas. All these linguistic elements are represented in the 
local names of the area here discussed; and in addition, in the Tarai 
is a slight Bengali (Sanskritic) element of recent introduction; and in 
the hill-tract are several English names designating settlements con¬ 
nected with colonization and British enterprise in the tea-industry, e. g., 
Hope-town, Bloom-field, Bannock-burn, Birch-hill, &c., but too few to 
merit special notice. 
Plurality of Place-names .—The oldest names are found to be of 
Lepcha origin. The Lepchas from their wild forest life are ‘ born * 
naturalists, possessing a name for nearly every natural product, animal 
or vegetable, whether of economic value or not. Hence they readily 
gave discriminating names to the chief mountains, rivers and sites in 
their neighbourhood. A few of these old names still survive in places 
where the Lepchas no longer are present. The Bhotiyas, on settling 
in Sikhim, bestowed their own names on many of the already named sites, 
partly perhaps from the fact that the meaning of the Lepcha name was 
not evident, and partly to express their contempt for the Lepohas. Thus, 
many of the hills and rivers possess two names, viz., a Lepcha name and 
a Bhotiya (Tibetan) name, e. g , the Riot Ting and Rang-nyu Ting of the 
Lepchas are the Di/c-chhu, and Tsang-chhu of the Bhotiyas ; and the Kong- 
lo cliu and Na-tam chu of the Lepchas are called Kang-chhen-dzo-nga 
and Kabur by the Bhotiyas. And since the influx of Nepalis a third 
synonym in the Parbatiya dialect of Hindi has been added in several in¬ 
stances for rivers, mountains and already named sites, e. g., Tista and 
Jalapahar are the current Pahariya names for the Lepcha Rang-nyu 
TJng and Kang-got hlo ; but such Nepali synonyms usually are merely 
corruptions of the Lepcha or Bhotiya names, e. g., the Rd-do of the 
Lepchas, Chumi-chhen of the Tibetans and Am-bi-oJc of the Bhotan 
Bhotiyas are corrupted by the Nepalis into Ladhoma , Simik chi and 
Ambeh respectively. 
Orthography employed .—A few words here are necessary regarding 
the orthography employed. The current English forms (in maps &c.) 
of spelling geographical names in this area, as elsewhere, are usually 
most incorrect and unsystematic: the spelling and pronunciation dis¬ 
agree at every turn, and are out of keeping with the native form, which 
is the only true one. The system adopted in this paper is the pre¬ 
cise method of Sir W. Jones as recognized by the Society, and now 
generally followed for philological purposes. To adapt it to the compli¬ 
cated vowel-sounds and semi-silent final consonants of the Tibetan, and 
