LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS, for making laws for British India, sit at each of the presidency towns. On the 16th January 1862, the Governor General in Council, under the authority vested in him by the Act 24 and 25 Viet. cap. 67, sec. 16, appointed Saturday the 18th of January 1862, and the Council Chamber in the Government House at Calcutta, for the first meeting of the Council of the Governal-General, for the purpose of making laws and regulations under the pro visions of the Act. On the 17th January 1862, there was issued the proclamation that the pro visions of the Act touching the making of laws and regulations for the peace and good govern ment of the presidencies of Fort St. George and Bombay were extended to the Bengal division of the presidency of Fort William, from the 18th of January 1862.
LEGUMINOSh is a name of the Fabacem or bean tribe, q.v. Leguminous and cruciferous plants occupy the largest part of the Chinese kitchen garden ; many sorts of peas and beans are cultivated, and the pods and seeds of two species of dolichos are eaten, and the beans of another species made into soy by boiling and powdering the kernels and then fermenting them with yeast, and mixing other ingredients, according to the t aste of the maker or purchaser. Peas and beans form important objects of culture, and the condi ment called soy (a word derived from the Japan ese Soya) is prepared chiefly from a species of dolichos. One of the commonest modes of making this condiment is to skin the beans and grind them to flour, which is mixed with water and powdered gypsum or turmeric. The common Chinese eat few meals without the addition of one form or other of the bean-curd or bean-jelly. The soy was at one time largely used as a condi ment in the several countries of Europe, but has been displaced for others. See Fabacem.
LEH, a chief town in Ladakh, is situated about three miles from the northern bank of the Indus, at an elevation of 11,538 feet above sea -level. Lat. 34° 10' N., long. 40' E. ; estimated popu lation, 4000. Leh stands in a small plain, between the river and a chain of mountains ; a wall with conical and square towers surrounds the town, and runs up to the crest of the range. It is the
entrepot for the trade between the Panjab and Chinese Tartary, being the principal mart for the shawl - wool imported from the latter country. In summer, caravans from distant regions meet at Leh. It is the rendezvous for merchants travel ling to and from Yarkand ; and the variety of tribes then to be found in it is particularly great. The level of the Indus at Leh is 10,723 feet. The town occupies the slope, and surrounds the base of a low spur, on the left or east side of the valley, while the centre and right side are occupied by extensive tracts of cultivation, the fields rising in terraces one above another, and watered by little rills drawn from a stream which descends in the centre of the valley. Along the road by which the town is approached, there is a math, extending for more than half a mile. It consists of two parallel walls, 12 or 15 feet apart, and nearly 6 feet high, the intervals between which are filled up with stones and rubbish, and the whole covered with a sloping roof, which rises at a gentle angle to the central ridge, midway between the two walls.
A considerable number of Kashmirians are domesticated at Leh, and a mixed race has originated from them and the women of the country, termed Argand. The Kashmiri and their descendants are engaged in commerce, and the lower orders are butchers, cooks, and petty retailers. There are also some Turani merchants ; and in the lands of Chushut, a colony of Balti Muhammadan is established, addicted to intoxi cants. The Kashmirians here, as .well as every where else, are notorious for every kind of profligacy ; and where they abound the people of the country are tainted by similar vices. The women of Ladakh, in consequence of their great proportionate number, find it difficult to obtain subsistence, and besides domestic occupations iLd wool-picking, in which they are very expert, they are the principal labourers in the fields. They are a very lively, good-humoured race, and scolding and railing are almost unknown amongst them.— Magnetic Survey of India ; Rol). Schl. ; Mrs. Her vey's Tartary; Thomson's Tr.; Imp. Gaz.; Latham ; Cunningham; Moorfoot's Tr. p. 321.