472 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



to the cultivation of most of our 

 English plants and vegetables; of 

 agriculture, the inhabitants appear 

 to have a tolerable conception, but 

 are almost entirely ignorant of gar- 

 dening. 



We shall now follow our author 

 to Tibet, with which the establish- 

 ment of an exchange of commodi- 

 ties and friendly intercourse was the 

 chief object of his embassy- The 

 five or six first chapters contain lit- 

 tle moi*e than the preparation for 

 paying and receiving numerous vi- 

 sitsof form and ceremony, and along, 

 though not unentertaining account 

 of the mausoleum of the late Tee- 

 shoo Lama, to wliom Mr. Boyle 

 had been deputed ambassador. The 

 religious, both in Bootan as well as 

 Tibet, are held in great venera- 

 tion; and the severities of penance 

 and mortification that they will un- 

 dergo to obtain the reputation of 

 sanctity in their profession may be 

 conceived from the following ex- 

 tract : 



' A Gosein (says captain Tur- 

 ner), whose name is Pranpooree, 

 exhibited so extraordinary an in- 

 stance of religious penance, that I 

 cannot resist the temptation of re- 

 lating some particulars of his life. 

 Having been adopted by an Hindoo 

 devotee, and educated by him in 

 the rigid tenets of his religion, he 

 was yet young when he commenced 

 the course of his Extraordinary mor- 

 tifications. The first vow, which 

 the plan of life he had chosen to 

 himself induced him to make, was 

 to continue perpetually upon his 

 legs, and neither to sit down upon 

 the ground, nor lie down to rest, 

 for the space of twelve years. All 

 this time, he told me, he had em- 

 ployed in wandering through dif- 

 ferent countries. When I inquired 



how he took the indispensable re- 

 freshment of sleep, when wearied 

 with fatigue, he said, that at first, 

 to prevent his falling, he used to 

 be tied with ropes to some tree or 

 post; but that this precaution, after 

 some time, became unnecessary, and 

 he was able to sleep standing with- 

 out such support. The complete 

 term of this first penance being ex- 

 pired, the next he undertook was 

 to hold his hands locked in each 

 other over his head, the fingers of 

 one hand dividing those of the other, 

 for the same space of twelve years. 

 Whether this particular period is 

 chosen in compliment to the twelve 

 signs of the zodiac, or to the In- 

 dian cycle of twelve years, I can- 

 not decide. He was still determined 

 not to dwell in any fixed abode ; 

 so that before the term of this last 

 vow could be accomplished, he had 

 travelled over the greatest part of 

 the continent of Asia. He first set 

 out by crossing the peninsula of In- 

 dia, through Guzerat ; he then 

 passed by Surat to Bussora, and 

 thence to Constantinople ; from 

 lurkey he went to Ispahan ; and 

 sojoui-ned so long among the dif- 

 ferent Persian tribes, as to obtain a 

 considerable knowledge of their 

 language, in which he conversed 

 with tolerable ease. In his passage 

 from thence towards Russia, he fell 

 in with the Kussaucs (hordes of 

 Cossacs), upon the borders of the 

 Caspian sea, where he narrowly es- 

 caped being condemned to perpe- 

 tual slavery ; at length he was suf- 

 fered to pass on, and reached Mos- 



cow 



he then travelled along the 



northern boundary of the Russian 

 empire, and througli Siberia arrived 

 at Pekin in China ; from whence 

 he came through Tibet, by the way 

 of Teeshoo Loomboo, and Nipal 



