Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/71

 distinct languages are spoken within its small area. These range from Sanskrit, "the speech of the gods," to the gibberish of the jungle dwellers. Brian Hodgson, who spent many years in Nepal, has compiled several scholarly works on the ethnology of the Nepalese, including investigations into some of the small savage tribes living in the depths of the Terai. In connection with this research it is recorded that he approached the State authorities with a view to securing one of these wild aborigines for the purposes of an interview. His request was courteously acceded to, and a short time after the individual was solemnly produced—in a cage.

For all ordinary needs it may suffice to refer to the two principal races of the State. These are the Gurkhas and the Newars, the rulers and their subjects, the victors and the vanquished. The original inhabitants of the valley are the Newars, while the present ruling race are the Gurkhas, who conquered the country in 1768. For a sound and sympathetic administration and an ideal system of military organization the methods of the