VOL. LXVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. JQI 



a less robust make. Their complexions are also fairer, and many of them have 

 even a ruddiness in their countenances unknown in the other climates of the 

 east. Those whom I saw at Calcutta appeared to have quite the Tartar face. 

 They are of a mild and cheerful temper; and Mr. Bogle says, that the higher 

 ranks are polite and entertaining in conversation, in which they never mix either 

 strained compliments or flattery. The common people, both in Boutan and 

 Thibet, are clothed in coarse woollen stuffs of their own manufacture, lined 

 with such skins as they can procure; but the better orders of men are dressed 

 in European cloth, or China silk, lined with the finest Siberian furs. The 

 ambassador from the Deb Rajah, in his summer-dress at Calcutta, appeared 

 exactly like the figures we see in the Chinese paintings, with the conical hat, 

 the tunic of brocaded silk, and light boots. The Thebetian who brought the 

 first letter from the Lama was wrapped up from head to foot in furs. The use 

 of linen is totally unknown among them. The chief food of the inhabitants is 

 the milk of their cattle, prepared into cheese and butter, or mixed with the 

 flour of a coarse barley or of peas, the only grain which their soil produces; and 

 even these articles are in a scanty proportion ; but they are furnished with rice 

 and wheat from Bengal and other countries in their neighbourhood. They are 

 supplied with fish from the rivers in their own and the neighbouring provinces, 

 salted and sent into the anterior parts. They have plenty of animal food, from 

 the cattle, sheep, and hogs, which are raised on their hills; and are not destitute 

 of game. They have a singular method of preparing their mutton, by exposing 

 the carcase entire, after the bowels are taken out, to the sun and bleak northern 

 winds, which blow in the months of August and September, without frost, and 

 so dry up the juices and parch the skin, that the meat will keep uncorrupted for 

 the year round. This they generally eat raw, without any other preparation. 

 Mr. Bogle was often regaled with this dish, which, however unpalatable at first, 

 he says, he afterwards preferred to their dressed mutton just killed, which was 

 generally lean, tough, and rank. It was also very common for the head men, 

 in the villages through which he passed, to make him presents of sheep so pre- 

 pared, set before him on their legs as if they had been alive, which at first had 

 a very odd appearance. 



The religion and political constitution of this country, which are intimately 

 blended together, would make a considerable chapter in its history. It suffices 

 here to say, that at present, and ever since the expulsion of the Eluth Tartars, 

 the kingdom of Thibet is regarded as depending on the empire of China, which 

 they call Cathay; and there actually reside 2 mandarines, with a garrison of 

 1000 Chinese, at Lahassa the capital, to support the government; but their 

 power does not extend far: and in fact, the Lama, whose empire is founded on 

 the surest grounds, personal affection and religious reverence, governs every 



