77 
1891.] L. A. Waddell— Place ancl River-Names in Sikhim , Sfc. 
Mahish-mari = B. mahish , buffalo + mdri. 
Ga'i-bari ( Ang . Gayabari) gde or gdi , cow + bari, a habita¬ 
tion = cow-shed. 
Sal-bari = B. and H. sal, the valuable timber tree ( Shorea robusta) 
4 - bari = ‘ The Sal-grove.’ 
A'lu — , Am — , Champa — , Kamla — , Phul-bari = B. and H. dlu, a 
yam or potatoe, am, mango, champa, the champak-tree, kamld 
(the citron) tree, phul, a flower + bari, a habitation—hence 
as regards vegetables, a grove or garden. 
Sukna = B. ^eff*TT suicna , dry. A dry site in Tarai on plateau at 
base of a spur where water-level is relatively low. 
The general import or meaning of the names. 
The above lists of names with their etymological definitions, although 
not exhaustive, suffice to show the manner in which place and river- 
names are assigned in this area. The great majority of the names are 
given by illiterate persons, so that grammatical accuracy is not always to 
be expected. The names, as to their meaning, may be generally classed 
as descriptive; a few are mythological and religious, but these are 
chiefly confined to monastery names; and the personal designations 
perpetuating the names of tbe founders of villages are found almost 
exclusively amongst the Pahariya settlements. 
Names mostly descriptive .—The descriptive names predominate, and 
these usually well express some very obvious physical feature of the 
site or river, e. g., of rivers, an especial tortuosity, steepness, impetuosity, 
shallowness or otherwise of a course or channel; of mountains, their 
shape, appearance &c.; of village sites, the stony, precipitous, meadow- * 
like character, quality of soil, jungle-product, conspicuous tree &c. 
Names of the country. —In naming the country, both the Lepchas 
and Bhotiyas characterized the most striking feature of the country, 
each from their own respective point of view. The Lepchas, a roving 
forest-people, even still living largely on jungle-products and sleeping 
under rocks for shelter, called this country Ne-layang or ‘the country of 
caves,’ while the Bhotiyas, a much more pastoral and agricultural race, 
who came from across the Himalayas, where rice is highly prized as 
■v 
food, but not there growable, called the country /ibras-Zjongs, 
pronounced De-jong # or ‘ the rice-country,’ as rice is abundantly cultiva¬ 
ted in Sikhim. These Sikhim Bhotiyas in the course of the three or four 
s f -\r 
# As de is a form of demo 3T = good, although the name of the country is 
not spelt in this way, it is occasionally called ‘ Demo-jong,’ i. e. } ‘ the happy or good 
country.’ 
