Nepal

Nepal, a kingdom lying between British India and Thibet, occupies the southern range of the Himalayas for about 500 miles and extends 20 miles into the plains. It has an area of 56,800 square miles, and is extremely mountainous, the general heights varying from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. Mount Everest is in this country. The lower hills are thickly wooded, and abound in animals, and the soil produces copper, iron, sulphur, marble, and crystal. The chief manufactures are cloth, iron, copper, and brass vessels, and bell-metal, and there is a brisk commerce with Thibet and British India, the exports to the latter amounting to the value of £1,500,000. Among the articles exported are rice, oil-seeds, opium, musk, falcons, furs, ginger, yaks' tails, etc. The people are of Mongolian type, the upper classes being Hindu in religion and the lower Buddhists. Nepal was invaded by Hindus in the 14th century, and by Goorkhas in 1767. A war with England in 1814 led to a treaty in 1816, and friendly relations have since been established and maintained. The capital is Khatmandu.