28+ NEPAL. Khika Maccha. They are commonly met with in North Behar, from Champáran to Purniah. In the valley of Khatmandu, the thin or new pice, introduced in 1865, have now nearly driven the Lohija pice out of circulation. They are circular, made by machinery, and fairly well stamped. Their value is 117 to the Indian rupee. According to a report by Mr. Girdlestone, the British Resident at the Court of Nepál, the average annual out-turn of all the Nepálese mints during the four years ending 1875-76 was as follow's, in terms of Mohri rupees:-Silver mohars, Rs. 214,000; Bhútwaliya pice, Rs. 186,000; Lohiya pice, Rs. 43,000; new pice, Rs, 123,000. The coinage of silver used formerly to be much larger than it is now; but the Indian rupee has gradually expelled the native mohar from the entire south of the country. Indian currency notes are in slight demand along the border. In Khatmandu they are highly prized as a means of remittance, usually fetching a premium varying from 3 to 5 per cent. Formerly tlie bills of the great trading firm of Dharm Náráyan were bought up at higher prices even than currency notes. This firm acts as State bankers, and has corresponding houses at Patná, Benares, Cawnpur, and Calcutta. It suspended payment in 1873, but has since been re-established. Manufactures.—The Newars are almost the only artisans in Nepál. The Newar women, as well as the men of the hill tribe of Magars, weave two sorts of cotton cloth, partly for home use and partly for exportation. Those who are not very poor wear woollen blankets, which are manufactured by the Bhutias, who wear little else. The dress of the higher ranks is not manufactured at home, but is imported; it consists of Chinese silks and European muslins, calicoes, velvet, and broadcloth. The Newars are workers in iron, copper, brass, and bell-metal; the chief seats of the latter industry being Pátan and Bhatgảon. One bell manufactured at this last place measured 5 feet in diameter. The Tibet bells are superior to those of Nepál, though a great many bellmetal vessels of Nepál manufacture are exported to Tibet, along with those of brass and copper. The Newars have also a knowledge of carpentry; but it is remarkable that they rarely use a saw, dividing their wood, when of any size, by a chisel and mallet. They manufacture from the bark of a shrub (daphne) a very strong paper, remarkably well suited for packages. They distil spirits froin rice and other grains, and also prepare a fermented liquor from wheat, mahuu, rice, ctc., which they call rukshi. It is made somewhat in the manner of malt liquor, but is more intoxicating. Ilistory. --- The carly history of Nepál, like that of most eastern countries, is buried under a mass of fable. The inhabitants exhibit a list of princes for several thousand years back, which is given in Colonel Kirkpatrick's work, but without any evidence of its authenticity. We
