The family of Gorkha which now governs Nepal, although it pretends to come from Chitaur, according to Sadu Ram, a good authority, is, in reality, of the Magar tribe; and, at any rate, these people are now firmly attached to its interests, by having largely shared in the sweets of conquest; and by far the greatest part of the regular troops of that family is composed of this nation. Colonel Kirkpatrick {26a} has given a short vocabulary of its language, which has no affinity to the Parbatiya or Sangskrita. In the vocabulary which I have deposited in the Company’s library, will be seen a more full specimen of the Magar language, which now, at least, is written in the Nagri character. By many of the soldiery, owing to their frequent absence from home, for the purpose of attending at court, it has been entirely forgotten. In a short time, therefore, it is highly probable that this people may unite with the mountain Hindus, and be considered as one of their casts. When I was at Kathmandu, indeed, I found that many people were then of this opinion; and Colonel Kirkpatrick {26b} includes them among the Kshatriya or military cast. But hitherto the tribe has been so powerful, that many people in the west speak its language although they do not belong to it; and by far the greatest number adhere to the original impurity of life which their ancestors embraced. Before the arrival of the Rajputs, it is said, that this nation consisted of twelve Thums, or clans, the whole members of each being supposed to have a common extraction in the male line; and a man and woman of the same blood could not intermarry. Each Thum was governed by a chief, considered as the head of a common family.