THE HIMALAYAN TRIBES.
a common appellation being nevertheless divided into several septs, distinguished from each other by strongly marked dialects, non-intermarriage, and some differences of customs, while the tribes which bear distinct names are still more palpably separated in those respects; but the barrier of caste in its true sense, is unknown. The general status of all the tribes and races is that of nomadic cultivators. . . . There are no craftsmen generally speaking, proper to these tribes; stranger and helot races located among them for ages untold, being their smiths, carpenters, curriers, potters, &c., and the women of each tribe being its domestic weavers. The Newars alone have any literature, and that wholly exotic." —Hodgson.
