people seem to be prosperous; they cultivate rice on irrigated terraces, and use a plough drawn by buffaloes. A few hundred yards above the River Kalai (also called Kalhait) we saw cardamon patches carefully fenced. The Kalai river, which we found rapid at even this season of the year, rises in the Singli pass, and after a circuitous course of about 20 miles, empties into the great Rungit near the foot of Tashiding hill. Villages are numerous along the river for many miles; they are situated on ridges, which look like lateral ribs of a range running on either side of the Kalai from west to east, generally sending out southerly spurs.
The Kalai is overhung on both sides by lofty trees growing on steep banks apparently inaccessible when looked at from the river bank. The river is bridged by two long, stout bamboos resting on a huge boulder in the middle of the stream, and weighted down with slabs of stone.
In the shallow part of the stream piles have been driven to hold bamboo nets for capturing fish. This torrent is well known for its delicious fish; and we saw growing by some of the Limbu houses the na-dag-shig,[1] a tree, the leaves of which are used to poison fish which swarm in the stagnant pools in the river.
There are five classes of priests among the Limbu people, who perform their religious and secular ceremonies. They are called Phedangba, Bijua, Dami, Baidang, and Srijanga.[2]
The Phedangba enjoy the privilege of conducting the religious ceremonies, and of dealing in omens and fortune-telling. The Bijuba are trained to the Shamanic worship, of which fantastic dances are the characteristic feature. The third order practice witchcraft exclusively, and are said to be able to expel evil spirits through the
- ↑ Perhaps Nya-dug-shing (nya, "fish;" dug, "poison;" shing, "tree"). Dr. Hooker (op. cit., i. 168) mentions as growing in Sikkim, aconite and convallaria yielding the bikh poison.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Dr. Hooker (op. cit., i. 138) says that in their funeral ceremonies "the Bijooa of the Lepchas is employed; but the Limboo has also priests of his own, called 'Phedangbos,' who belong to rather a higher order than the Bijooas." Dr. Hooker's description of the Bijua and of the Lepehas' religious beliefs prove them conclusively to profess nearly the same religion as the Bonbo of Tibet.—(W. R.)
they are not accessible to me. Dr Hooker, op. cit., i. 127–136 says of the Lepchas: "They, or at least some of their tribes, call themselves Rong and Arratt, and their country Dijong. Polyandy is unknown among them, and polygamy rare. Marriage is by purchase. The dead are burnt or buried. Omens are sought in the entrails of fowls (p. 135). They have no religion, though acknowledging the existence of good and bad spirits."—(W. R.)
