The Khu, the Magar, and the Gurung, with a markedly Mongolian physiognomy, stature low, 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 8 inches ; small hands. The Kim speak a Parbattiah or Sanskritic' dialect of Hindi. The Magar and Gurung have separate dialects of their own, which are not Sanskritic. They are mountaineers, and make good soldiers.
The Bhotia, the Lepcha, and the Murmi have strongly-marked Mongolian features. The Bhotia and Lepcha are fair in colour, with powerful frames, feet and hands well developed, and they are active.
The Murmi are smaller in stature than the Bhotia and Lepcha. They speak languages of Tibetan origin.
The Limbu, the Kiranti, the Hain, the Sanwar, and the Chepang are mountaineers, of small stature, all of Mongolian typo, which is most marked in the Limbu.
The Mic/d, the Dhinial, and the Caro inhabit the Tend or low lands at the foot of the moun tains, and withstand the most deadly malaria. Their physiognomy is Mongolian, with a yellow ish skin. They arc not of the Hindu, Buddhist, or Muhammadan religions. They are not fond of soldiering.
The Thorn and Dharwar live in the Terai. They are of a dark colour, are scarcely Mongolian in features, and they are either Buddhist or Muham mad:um.
The Batur, Kebrut, the Amath, the Maralia, the Dhanuk, and the Dom live in the Terai, are dark coloured, and not Mongolians. They speak Hindi and Bengali, and follow I linduisin, but are deemed unclean.
The Koch% or Rajbansi inhabit the Terai, Nepal, and Sikkitn, and spread into the adjacent districts of Purniah, Rangpur, and Assam. They are of a dark colour, and follow Hinduism, but are deemed unclean castes.
Lepcha.—Sikkim and Darjiling is the land of the Lepeha, a Bhot race who are hemmed in between the Newar and other Nepal tribes and the Lhopa of Bhutan on the east, the Lepcha area being barely GO miles iu breadth, but they occupy an extent of about 100 miles from N.W. to S.E. along the southern face of the Himalayas, to the east and west of Darjiliug, extending i.e. into Bhutan on the east and into Nepal on the west. Lepcha are also called the Deun-jong-maro. They are divided into two families, the Hong and the Khamba, but in physical appearance, in all essentials of lan guage, religion, customs, and habits, they are now so amalgamated that they are to be regarded as the same people. Their traditions are that the Hong has always been in Sikkim, but there is no doubt that the Khamba came across the snowy range from Tibet into Sikkim in the beginning of the 17th century. Dr. A. Campbell believes that the Hong are of the same tribe and from the same' locality in Tibet, but bad emigrated long prior to the Khamba. The Khamba say they came from Klima,' a province of China, which they describe as about 30 days' journey to the east and north of Lhassa, and on the main road from that city to Pekin. The Lepcha are Buddhists, following the Lamas of Tibet and of their own tribe.
The Lepcha lama or priest can marry, and many of them, engage in business. The Lepcha have a written character. The Lepcha have no caste distinctions, but they speak of themselves as belonging to one or other of the following sections :—Burphung Phocho, Udding Phucho, Thurjokh Phucho, Sundyang, Sugut, Tungyeld, Lucksom, Therim, Songme. They are gross feeders, eating all kinds of animal food, pork, beef, goat's flesh, mutton, the monkey, elephant, rhinoceros, the flesh of the cow, birds, and all kinds of grain and vegetables, fern tops, fungi, nettles, and mountain spinach. They are fond of fermented and spirituous liquors, a beer from the murwa, but are not given to drunkenness.
The Lepcha women perform all the field and house labour. The Lepcha man is idle, abhors all craft labour, but recently they have worked as chair-bearers, and in the tea plantations. The Lepcha do not marry young. They intermarry with the Limbu and Bhotia. The Lepeha bury or burn their dead. Their ailments are small pox, rheumatism, and remittent fever, and goitre is known amongst them.
Tho Lepcha physiognomy is markedly Mon golian, stature short, from 4 feet 5 inches to 5 feet ; face broad and flat, nose depressed, eye oblique, chin beardless, skin sallow and olive, with a little moustache on the lips ; broad chested and strong armed, but small boned, with small wrists, hands, and feet. The Lepcha is honest, timid, and peaceful, with mild and frank features; a dirty, good-natured people, resembling in cha racter the Mongol beyond the Chinese wall. The Lepcha throws over him loosely a cotton cloak with blue, white, and red stripes, and uses an overcoat with sleeves in the cold weather ; broad umbrella-shaped hat of leaves and a pent house of leaves in the rains. The women dress in silk skirt and petticoat, with a sleeveless woollen cloak. The Lepeha man carries a long, heavy, and straight sword, serving for all purposes to which a knife or sword can be applied. They drink the fermented juice of the Eleusine coracana, murwa, an acidulous, refreshing, and slightly in toxicating drink, not unlike hock or sauterne in its flavour. They marry before maturity, the brides being purchased by money or service. The Lepeha, like the Borneo kindle a fire by the friction of sticks.
The face is round, and the expression is re markably lively and soft, which is the reverse of that of the Lhopa and West Tibetans, and their lively and inquisitive character does not belie it. The men have less muscular development than the Magar, Gurung, and Murmi, and other Par battiah. They are fair, ruddy, and with Mongo lian features, and have no beard. The women are proportionally short. They are poor agricul turists, and move from place to place, staying two or three years. The sword worn by every Lepcha is called Ban. It is the Chipsa of the Bhotia, a straight sword with a wooden scabbard, open along the side.
The Limbu is a border race in Sikkim and Nepal, but the Kirata,,Kirtinti, or Kiehak as well as the Ealia and Rai are often included under this name ; and Dr. Campbell informs us that in ap pearance they are very much alike. Limbu has therefore become the common appellation of the whole population of the mountainous country bordering between the Drid Kosi and Konki rivers in Nepal, and they are also in small numbers eastwards to the Meehi river, which forms the coterminus of Nepal and Sikkim. The name is a dialectal variation from Ekthrunba. The Lepcha call them T'sang, in the belief that their original country was T'sang. The Limbu, Sanwar, and Chepang possess a small Mongolian type, strongest in the Limbu. The Limbu resemble the Rong, but are a little taller and more muscular, with the eye rather smaller ; the nose also is somewhat smaller, with a somewhat high bridge. They are a hardy, hard-working race, engage in the cultivation of grain,, and breed cattle, pigs, and poultry. They drink to excess. Their huts are made of split bamboo, and the roofs of leaves of the wild ginger and cardamom, guyed down with rattans. They have martial proclivities, and occasionally enlisted in the native army of British India. According to Dr. Campbell, the Limbu is