Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/27

 that they have hardly a dozen matchlocks among them all. Nepalese settlers are numerous here, and I noticed some Brahmans and Chetris who live chiefly by selling milk and butter. We passed several paddy fields made on terraces along the hillsides, where ploughs drawn by bullocks were used; but the Bhutias neither terrace the hillsides nor do they use ploughs, but keep to their time-honoured implements, hoes and clubs (in) of oak, by which they get but scanty returns. The Limbus till the ground for three consecutive years, and then leave it fallow for three, when the weeds are cut and burnt, and it is again put under cultivation.

After ascending several hills by steep paths, we came to the top of a ridge marked by a mendong and a chorten, and from whence a picturesque view of the valley of Dhuramdien, dotted with numerous houses, and of the surrounding country is obtained. This spot is called Mani-dara by the Pahirias, and Chorten-gang by the Bhutias, both names meaning "the ridge of the sacred stupa." Here we halted by the side of a rill, and purchased two bottles of murwa beer and vegetables from some Limbus.

November 9.—Our way led along an easy path by Limbu houses with sheepfolds and pigsties in front of them, and around which a few goats and cows were also seen. The Limbu fowls, by the way, are not so large as those of the Bhutias. As I journeyed on we talked of some of the Limbu customs, the most remarkable of which is that