Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 2.djvu/58

 NEWARS.

EWAR is the name of the bulk of the inhabitants of Nipal, who were the rulers of the valley before the Goorkha conquest, and are, indeed, believed to have been its first inhabitants. Their original country has not been ascertained, though the Tartar cast of their physical form, and the monosyllabic structure of their language, point to Tibet; their traditions, however, indicate India as their previous home. They now" constitute the great mass of the agricultural and artisan population; and the ruins of their well-built towns and temples attest the civilization to which they had attained before their conquest by the rude mountaineers, who now consume in military idleness, the fruits of their fields. About two-thirds of the Newars are Buddhists, the remainder Brahminical Hindoos. They are a cheerful and industrious race, possessing a skill in agriculture far exceeding that which exists in Hindostan, and presenting a marked contrast to the sour looks and arrogant demeanour of the Goorkha on the one hand, and to the melancholy and apathetic countenance of the inhabitant of Hindostan on the other.