north-west up an open dry valley cultivated in places with wheat and mustard in small terraced and irrigated fields, and passed over bare grassy downs on which a plantation of Pinus excelsa had been made. The villagers' houses were built of brick and roofed with tiles, mostly two-storied, the upper floor being inhabited by the people and the lower used for cattle and stores. A small primrose was one of the first signs of spring. Crowds of pilgrims on their way from the plains of India to a religious festival at Khatmandu were on the road, nearly all walking, though a few were carried on coolies' backs. Among them were large numbers of women who caused my companion, new to India, to remark that this was the only country he had ever seen where it was possible to pass thousands of women without a smile on the face of one of them.
In the afternoon we ascended another steep ridge through forest mainly of evergreen oak, and at the top had our first view of the great open valley of Khatmandu, with the snowy Himalaya mountains in the background* The great open valley, terraced and cultivated wherever possible, with the city of Khatmandu in the middle of it, and bare mountains covered with brown grass and scrub on the south exposure, formed a scene which, though beautiful in itself, was so unlike and so very inferior in grandeur to the scenery of Sikkim that I could hardly believe I was only two hundred miles to the west of that enchanting country. Pilgrims and coolies carry¬ ing immense burdens of ironware and European goods on the way to the valley crowded the path, whilst those returning were mostly laden with coarse dirty wool from the interior. The last descent was so steep and difficult that a horse-dealer bringing horses from Kabul had some difficulty in getting them down. At the bottom we found a well-appointed pair-horse carriage waiting to take us to the Residency, where we were hospitably received by Colonel Manners Smith,
After many years of travel in Asiatic countries, including Asia Minor, Siberia, Japan, Formosa, China, Java and the Malay Peninsula, and an intimate knowledge of Sikkim and other parts of India dating back to 1870, I formed the opinion that the government of Nepal is a form of government well suited to the ideas of Oriental peoples. Though the rulers of Nepal have rigidly kept their country free from European educa¬ tion and commerce, and have strictly adhered to the tenets of their own religion and customs, yet the facts that the people appear healthy, happy and not over-taxed, that the standing army is one of which any Oriental State may be proud, and that law and order prevail to an extent which has kept the relations of their people and ours peaceable and friendly for a very long period over a very long frontier, prove that such a form of government has advantages which modern reformers cannot overlook. And when the internal condition of Nepal is compared with what it was in Brian Hodgson's time, when bloody quarrels among the ruling chiefs and members of the Royal Family were common, one must admit that for a country where the land suitable for cultivation is insufficient for the maintenance of an increasing population, and where the natural products offer few openings for trade or manufactures, Nepal is in many respects fortunate. The fact that we are able to recruit and maintain no less than twenty battalions of the best native infantry in India entirely drawn from
