I now return to Mincha, whose descendants were reclaimed from their impurity by the Brahmans.
Mincha was Raja of Nayakot, and the chiefs of this place, although they lived pure, continued to the last to follow in war the impure representative of Khancha, who governed Bhirkot. Nayakot was very petty; but, besides the capital, contained a town of some note, named Limi, but no mines of any consequence.
A collateral branch of the Nayakot Rajas obtained a similar state called Satahung, which, besides the capital, contained a town called Gengdi. The capital, of the same name with the territory, is situated on a hill, and contained about 250
thatched huts, besides the brick castle of the chief. In the whole territory there might have been 1500 houses. The Raja’s share of the land revenue amounted to 2000 rupees a-year. He followed in war the chief of Kaski. The most numerous tribe among his subjects was the Khasiya.
A second collateral branch of the Nayakot family was Kaski, a more powerful state than that of the chief from which it sprang. I believe that the territory of this chief towards the hills was much wider than is represented in the map of Kanak, for I was informed, that Gorkha had no communication with the Bhotiyas, his country being narrowed there between Kaski and Nepal. It may, however, have happened, that the want of communication was owing to the impracticability of the mountains, and not to the shortness of the frontier. The chiefs of Kaski leagued with Lamjun, a collateral branch of their own family, but had as a follower in war their kinsman of Satahung. Although adjacent to the mountains covered with perpetual snow, the southern parts are rather warmer than the valley of Nepal Proper, but the parts adjacent to the snowy peaks were inhabited by Bhotiyas, and next to these were some Gurungs. The warmer parts were occupied by Brahmans, Khasiyas, and the persons of low tribes necessary as artisans. The mountains here formed an uninterrupted and impenetrable barrier towards the north. The chief possessed some mines of copper; and, besides the capital, there is a considerable town called Pokhara, which is a mart frequented by merchants from Nepal, Palpa, Malebum, etc. and afforded duties that in so poor a country were reckoned considerable. The capital by Colonel Kirkpatrick [242] is called Buttolachoor, is situated among hills on the Seti river, (Saite, K.) which is very deep but narrow.
Kaski, the ancient capital, Colonel Kirkpatrick places 7 coses
west from Buttolachoor, with Surrungkoat, a large town with a fort on a hill between them.
The chief of Lamjun was descended from a younger son of Kaski, and was originally powerful, the sum appropriated from the land revenue, for his family expense, being 22,000 rupees a-year; and he was not only followed in war by his kinsman the chief of Kaski, but by the Raja of Tanahung. Lamjun, after the loss of Gorkha, was a cold country bordering on the snowy peaks of Emodus, and inhabited by Bhotiyas, with some Brahmans and Khasiyas in the warmer vallies. It contained no mine of any importance, nor any town of note, except the capital; and the chief advantage, after the loss of Gorkha, that the Raja enjoyed, was the commerce with Bhotan or Thibet, which was carried on through a passage in Emodus called Siklik. Many goods were conveyed by this route to Lamjun, and from thence, by the way of Tarku, Tanahung, Dewghat, and Bakra, into the low country; but this trade has been interdicted by the present government of Nepal, which is very jealous of the Raja of Tanahung, to whom Bakra still is secured by the Company’s protection. Siklik, however, is still the residence of a Subah or civil governor, and is probably the place called Seshant in the map of Kanak. The name merely implies a frontier place, but among the hills is used to imply a place inhabited by barbarians; that is, such as reject the doctrines of the Brahmans. In both meanings the term is applicable to Siklik, as its inhabitants, Bhotiyas and Gurungs adhere to the Lamas, and it is the frontier town towards the empire of China.
One of the Lamjun Rajas, according to Prati Nidhi, had a younger brother named Darbha Sahi, who as usual held the office of Chautariya; but rebelled, and took to himself Gorkha,
the southern part of the principality, paying 12,000 rupees of the 22,000 that came to the chief for his support.