The article surveys webs of dependence in rural Nepal and discusses debt, poverty, and depopulation in the far northwest. The article states that serious indebtedness among Nepal's rural peasantry has been identified and has been the focus of periodic reforms since the time of King Prithvi Narayan Shah. Despite this, indebtedness remains a pervasive and unresolved problem throughout the country. Chronic debt is aggravated by exorbitant rates of interest and consumes limited household budgets already strained by low and often declining productivity in traditional agriculture. Thus debt may remain one of the fundamental economic problems in remote hill districts of Nepal. This article derives from a study of indebtedness in six villages of Humla district, and some of its findings may counter existing presumptions about debt in traditional rural villages of Nepal. (Rajeev Ranjan Singh 2007-02-11)