A

FEW NOTES FROM NEPAUL. By D. Weight, M.D., Residency Surgeon, Katmandoo.

a country little visited by Europeans, and one afraid, may possess but small interest for them ; for though the British have had a political agency established here for nearly fifty years, the country is still almost a terra incognita to us. Moreover foreigners, especially Europeans, are watched with an almost Chinese jealousy, so that there are great

Nepattl is

which, I

am

difficulties in the way of their having any intercourse with the or acquiring any information about their habits of the Hence I fear that many years must resources of the country. elapse before there can be any interest of a practical kind attaching to anything connected with Nepaul.

natives,

July 1,

A FEW NOTES FROM NEPAUL.?BY DR. D. WRIGHT.

1867.]

Still

a

few remarks

people, and here, may

on the soil, the climate, the habits of the the present condition of the healing art, as practised not be wholly devoid of attraction, for medical

readers at all events. observations

on

these

I have therefore

subjects, which

I

put together a few hope may not be alto-

gether unsuited for the pages of the Indian Medical Gazette, Short of course these must be, to bring so wide a subject within reasonable limits for an article in the Gazette, but I shall try to make them as concise, and as in their nature, as practical

possible. The only part

of this extensive conntry that Europeans are " allowed to enter is what is more of especially called the It is about Nepaul.'' twenty miles in length from east to west,

Valley

and from ten to fifteen miles in breadth from It is

completely

from six to ten thousand is itself at

an

north to south.

enclosed

by lofty well-wooded hills, varying feet in height. The bed of the valley

elevation of about 4,500 feet above the sea,

and

though from any of the surrounding heights it looks like a vast plain, its surface is in reality very irregular. There are numerous streams in it, which all arise within the valley, and run in general from the north and east towards the southern side, where they unite in a pretty large river, which escapes through a narrow pass towards the Terai. The beds of these rivers lie in a series of minor valleys, so that the whole country may be said to consist of a succession of table-lands and flats on lower level. The difference in height between these is considerable, often as much as sixty or eighty feet; and the edges of

a

the table-lands are generally abrupt and precipitious, disclosing the arrangement of the various strata of sand and clay which form the soil of the valley. Many of the streams dry up entirely in the hot season, and

the water in the others is much reduced by the system of irrigation which is very extensively practised by the Nepalese. The principal rivers are the Baghmutty and the Bishnmutty. The

former rises at the north-east side of one of the highest hills to the north of the valley, and flows through the greater part it passes a southerly and south-westerly direction, till Capital, Iuitmandoo, when it is joined by the Bishnmutty, which rises also at the north side of the valley, and runs nearly straight south. After the union of these streams, the river formed by them passes through a narrow cleft in a rocky ridge which the natives say was made by a blow from the tulwar of the goddess Debi. Tradition, by the way, says that Nepaul was a lake till after the delivery of this tremendous cut, which allowed the waters to drain away. Certainly, the appearance of the soil is greatly in favour of the popular tradition, as far as the lake theory goes. The real agent may possibly have been an earthquake, or, more likely, the gradual action of the 6tream cutting its way backwards through the rocks. The soil of the valley in general is light, consisting chiefly of micaceous sand. At a small distance below the surface, however, large beds of a peculiar black, greasy-looking clay often making reguare found, which the agriculturists dig up, lar mines for the purpose, and spread over the surface of the fields. This clay furnishes also a most excellent material for brick-making. The country, I believe, is rich in minerals. Not many years ago gold was procured in small quantities at the western end, of it in the

and there are traces of extensive copper works towards the south-east. Many other valuable minerals, such as iron, lead, &c., are procurable, but no trustworthy information on such points

got from the natives. The valley is densely peopled,?there being within its narrow limits three large towns, Katmandoo, Patan, and Bhatgaon. Besides these there are nine or ten considerable villages, and can

be

innumerable hamlets and collections of two or three houses, scattered throughout the fields, upen the table-lands and along

the slopes of the hills.

Altogether the population

may be

estimated at between four and

171

fire hundred thousand.

Here

again, however, accuracy is impossible, owing to the absence of any regular census. The population consists of several distinct races, who vary greatly in their language and characteristics. The principal of these races are the Ghoorkhas, Newars, Gurungs, Magars, and Limbus, the foreign merchants from the British provinces and those from

Bhootan and Thibet.

are the ruling possession of the country upwards They are tall, slim, high-featured

The Ghoorkhas

race, who invaded and took of a hundred years ago. men, probably descended

stock as the inhabitants of the plains of Hintliey are totally unlike what are known as Ghoorkhrs in the British Army. The Newars are the original inhabitants of the country, and* judging from their features, they are probably of Mongolian descent. They are peaceable, patient, and industrious, and perform almost all the agricultural and mechanical labours of the country. The Gurungs, Magars, and Limbus are, in general, short powerful men, broad-chested, and witli largely developed limbs. Their features are decidedly of the Mongolian type, and they are, in fact, what we in Hindoostan consider the lean ideal of Ghoorkhas. They perform a great deal of the hard work of the country, but they are also found in considerable numbers in the Army. The foreigners from our own provinces and Oashmir are chiefly merchants, living in the principal towns, and they are not from the

doostan,

same

and

very numerous.. A number of Bhooteas and natives of Thibet come down to the valley in the cold season, bringing with them vast flocks of sheep and goats, salt, yaks' tails, musk, and other merchandise. There are several villages in the valley almost entirely peopled by these races in the cold weather, but few of them remain throughout the year, as the heat is too great for them. The dress of the population is in general good. The men wear in the hot season cotton clothes, white or blue, much like those worn in Hindoostan, consisting of a jacket or long tunic, pyjamas, and a broad kummerbund. In the winter they don thickly padded coats or jackets and trousers, or if too poor to afford these, they wear instead rough coats made of coarse blanket or even tat. Some of the Newar men wear a peculiar dress, something between a dressing gown and a woman's gown, the body of which is tight, and the skirts gathered into plaits all round and reaching to the ankles. The women wear a short tight jacket, a cloth by way of petticoat, folded into a mass of plaits in front and touching the ground, but short behind, barely reaching the calf of the leg ; and a cotton sheet or sari, worn either as by the people on the plains, or wrapped tightly round the body like a broad kummerbund. The materials of course vary according to the posi-

tion of the wearers, but the dress is almost always the same in all the races, except in the head-dress. This consists among the Ghoorkhas of a small tight turban, while the Newars wear a

skull-cap of wadded cloth,

nothing

on

women wear

no

generally black, heads, or else Chinese head-dress, but brush their

and the Bhooteas

their

woollen caps. The hair away from the forehead in the Chinese fashion. The Ghoorkhas gather it into a pigtail, but the Newar women have it done up into a thick wear

little club, about six inches long, The Bhooteas

are

a

most

on

the crown of their head.

picturesque

set of

men.

Large,

fellows they are, very Chinese looking in their features. Their dress is simple, consisting of a huge, loose woollen coat girded round the waist, and a pair of gigantic

powerful, clumsy

clumsy

boots with

long

woollen

legs, which

lace

or

tie

as

high

as

Men and women dress much alike, and as the development of beard is small among the men, it is sometimes rather

the knees.

THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.

172

difficult to discriminate them from their sturdy help-mates, except by the ornaments the women wear. As

The upper in person, dress, and house; but the lower orders are the dirtiest people I ever encountered, and I doubt much if some of those I see at hospital have felt water on their bodies since the day they were bora. is in general varied and abundant. The food of the

regards cleanliness,

ten thousand

are

the less said the better.

clean and

tidy

people

The higher classes eat meat in the shape of sheep, goats, ducks,

and game constantly ; and the middle classes generally manage to have a meal of buffalo or goat's flesh, ducks or fowls severa1 times a week. Rice, wheat, and vegetables of every kind are

abundant, two meals

and not very dear, so that the people in daily ; but the lower classes, who

general make unfortunately

the most numerous, are miserably poor, and their food too frequently consists of little but rice and raw or half-cooked vegetables. Among the Newars and men of the lower castes a good deal of a coarse spirit is consumed?" ruksliee'' they call it. But though the use of this is habitual, actual drunkenness is seldom seem except perhaps on certain festival days. Pan and the various preparations of Indian hemp are used much as in Hindustan but the former is rather an expensive luxury in Nepaul. Tea is much used by the higher classes, and by all when they can get itJt is difficult to understand why it should not be manufactured here, as the plant grows luxuriantly 011 the low hills round the valley. The religion of the bulk of the population is Hinduism, with all its follies and prejudices of caste, &c. There are, however, a great many Buddhists in the valley, and also a few Mahomedans. The latter consist entirely of foreigners from

are

Hindustan.

The great mass of the population is engaged in agriculture. of the valley is turned to account, and as the Government forbids the cultivation of anything except what be converted into food, the production of cereals, &c., is very great. All the work is done by hand, as in consequence of there being little grazing ground, except on the slopes of

can

the hills, the cattle are few in number, and consist almost enof milch cows and buffaloes, or animals imported for immediate consumption. Ploughs are occasionally used by the

tirely

Bhooteas and inhabitants of the

higher

lands

near

the hills,

where pasture exists, but the Newars themselves have religious prejudices against using them. The two great crops of the year are wh eat, which is sown in December and January, and cut in May or June; and rice, which is sown from the end of April to the end of June, and cut in October and November. Besides these crops a principal of which are

the

Many valuable drugs too, such as aconite, liemp, chiretta, &c., are produced abundantly

market. Indian

great many others are largely grown, maize, radishes, garlic, onions, red potatoes, cauliflowers, French beans, and all the varie-

pepper, ties of cucurbitacese.

Many English vegetables^and flowers, and some fruit too, grow and flourish in Nepaul. By the way, I may mention that the ISepalese are great flower fanciers. The women, and often the men too, use flowers constantly in adorning their hair, and A most very tastily they arrange them. picturesque sight is that furnished by a string of the women, 011 a festival mornin dressed their all with best, bunches of sweet peas, ing, stocks, larkspur, centaury, roses, or asters in their top-knots. A great many English flowers have been introduced and acclimatized during the last thirty years, and some of the gardens of the higher classes would bear comparison with many in England. Before dismissing this subject, I may just mention that the wild flowers of Nepaul are most beautiful. Orchids and rhododendrons of every colour abound in the woods, and in the proper seasons most lovely specimens are daily brought down from the hills by the wood-cuttgrs for sale in the flower

18G7. rasont, in this

country.

Though rather out of place in a medical journal, perhaps I may take this opportunity of stating that the scenery in and around Nepaul is most magnificent. Whether for soft and gentle beauty in the valleys, streams, and fields, for grandeur of rugged rocks and shaggy forests, or for majestic mountains and glorious views of the eternal snows of the Himalayas, it is a country that can be equalled by few, and surpassed possibly by none. I must now notice the dwellings of the people. Almost all the houses are substantially built of burnt bricks, and are excellently tiled; even the small farm-houses scattered about the valley are two-storied, and in the towns they frequently rise to three or four, and sometimes even to five stories in height. The windows are large in the public rooms, but small in the sleeping and other apartments; and, except in the houses of a very few of the most wealthy people, glass is unknown, its place being taken by ornamental carved wooden gratings and shutters. The residences of the

higher classes are airy, lofty, and provided with every convenience for cleanliness and comfort, but those of the poor are low, close, and as utterly devoid of sanitary arrangements as the houses in Hindustan. As for the towns, I never saw before any tiling more loath ?

ditches and accumulations of indescrifilth that occupy the streets. Even in Kutmandoo the streets are very narrow?-mere lanes in fact; and each house forms a sort of square or court entered by a narrow than the

some

seething

bably offensive

exaggerate when I say that every street putrid mud, and that the courtyards are simply huge offensive dungpits. In fact, to pass through any of the towns one requires to have a nose and stomach well accustomed to sanitary researches ; and even these are not always sufficient, for I have seen one well-seasoned medical friend very nearly overcome by an hour's saunter through Eatinandoo. Fortunately, however, for the inhabiI do not

doorway.

contains

Every yard

[July 1,

a

ditch of black and

most

tants,

of their time is spent in the open air and in the

fields.

Europeans attached to the Residency are edge of one of the table-lands, within half There are only three houses, but a mile of Katmandoo. the compounds are very extensive, well sheltered by groves of fir trees, and ornamented by Australian gum trees, pear, plum, horse-chesnut, walnut, orange, camelia, oleander, and The houses of the

built

the western

on

numerous

The

"

other handsome flowering trees and shrubs. lines" of the escort stand to the north-east of the They are substantial and comfortable ranges of

Residency.

houses, built

high,

and

on

are

the usual

for native .lines. They stand of fir trees. Most of the boast of their pear and orange trees

plan by

well sheltered

houses in the lines too

can

rows

of

garden ground. The climate of Nepaul is, in my opinion, as near perfection as can be reasonably expected! Perhaps for a month or six weeks, say from the beginning of May to the middle of June, it is rather too warm, and one begins to think of punkahs and

and

strip

ice ; but all the rest of the year the climate is delicious. The The seasons are much the same as in other parts of India. rains usually commence about the middle of June, and are not very severe,

consisting rather

of

smart showers than of

daily

continuous drippings as are to be met with in the plains and the hill stations. The usual rainfall such heavy downpours is about

sixty

inches.

or

The cold weather sets in about the

middle cf October, and then there is a continuance of clear, cold bracing weather, with frequent spells of sharp frost, till about the end of

February.

The

only

drawback at this season

is the morning mist, which often come?

on

about sunrise

acij

July 1, lasts till

A FEW ]STOTES FROM NEPAUL.?BY DE. D. WEIGHT.

1867.]

eight

or

nine o'clock.

From

February

till the end of

173

give a better idea

To

of the climate, I shall here insert a few The first of these is drawn up from the observations taken by my predecessors, and the latter are from observations taken by myself during the last year and a half.

the weather is mild and pleasant, with occasional showers and storms. In May the hot weather may be said to begin, and it lasts till the rains come on.

tables.

April,

Ko. I. TABLE giving the

monthly fall of

Months.

1852.

rain and average

1853.

January

1854.

1855.

?5

?4

March

1857.

1856.

in the shade

1858.

?13

1-45

February

temperature

mean

7-86

2-88

1-09

?80

2-58

eleven years, from 1852 to 1862.

for

?80 1-15

2-65

4-80

?20

2-5

1861.

1860.

1859.

2-

1862.

?60

?70

?50

?40

1-8

Average rainfall. ?43

Mean

temperature.

45'50

1-3

50-45

?60

1-75

1-87

55-85

2-26

6455

"76

?59

3-93

3-40

1-88

1-52

1-86

5-26

1-69

2-92

May

2-90

1-31

3-60

6-47

3-7

4-43

6-25

5-40

4-42

9-03

6-48

June

7-17

13-41

10*13

7-99

5-47

12-39

13-59

12-15

8-93

...

19-20

17-95

11-62

15-91

10-65

16-22

20-37

10-99

10-43

20-46

17-28

15-55

73-30

9-93

14-43

13-39

23-42

12-6

1233

16-71

14-62

9-49

13-60

21-47

14-73

72-35

...

10-09

12-46

12-80

7-59

5-2

6-89

7-31

5-58

6-57

7'73

\-789

8-19

70-7

1-50

?15

6-25

?62

?85

7-47

?18

437

2-48

2-22

64-75

?55

2*75 114

?40

April

July August September October

*1

November

7'

10-1

December 51-65

53-98

67-59

62-05

64-15

59-59

Total

63-

52-84

65-67

68-85

72'45

'05

?30

54-50

.50

?24

46-85

61-84

67-23

70-18

70-35

No. II.

TABLE giving the temperature, direction of the ivind, and rainfall, for each month in 1866. shade out

Jan.

" r-

S

U QJ

C, c

6-1

("Maximum

I 1 Minimum IAverage

March.

Feb.

59?

70

79

32

28

38

April.

May.

June.

92

93

39

Prevailing Winds

N.

Rainfall

W.

71

76

W.

W.

W.

July.

48

56

mean

S.

E.

August.

Sept.

85

82

70

60

62

73

73

71

S. E.

Oct.

Nov.

63 S. W.

taken in

Dec.

78

w. & s,

S. E. & S, s.

11-35

1-95 in.

Temperature

doors.

of

Average for the year.

60

77?

35

25

45?

50

42

S. W.

the

60?-05

N. W.

2-55

52-15 in.

No. III. TABLE

giving

the same

as

in No. LL for the first five months Feb.

Jan.

March.

April

("Maximum e o

S

o

J

^ a

i

Minimum

LMean

Prevailing Wind Eainfall

25 44 W. ?5

54

i I ?

-85

and in a country where the means of supand abundant, the sickness and mortality

In such a climate, porting life are cheap ought not to be very great;

but

W.

W.

abject poverty, gross ignorance, (To

of

18G7.

May.

Average,

87

75'5

48

37-8

67

54-6

W.

S. W. & N. W.

2-85

2-75

7-65

and the defiance of all sanitary produced their usual results. le continued.J

and

hygienic

rules

have

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