Aug. 1849. CHOOMBI AND PHARI. Ill 



Bhotan at a large mart called Rinchingoong, whence it 

 flows to the plains of India, where it is called at Cooch- 

 Behar, the Torsha, or, as some say, the Godadda, and 

 falls into the Bnrrampooter. 



The Choombi district is elevated, for the only cultivation 

 is a summer or alpine one, neither rice, maize, nor millet 

 being grown there : it is also dry, for the great height 

 of the Bhotan mountains and the form of the Machoo 

 valley cut off the rains, and there is no dense forest. It is 

 very mountainous, all carriage being on men's and yaks' 

 backs, and is populous for this part of the country, the 

 inhabitants being estimated at 3000, in the trading season, 

 when many families from Tibet and Bhotan erect booths at 

 Phari. 



A civil officer at Phari collects the revenue under the 

 Lhassan authorities, and there is also a Tibetan fort, an 

 officer, and guard. The inhabitants of this district more 

 resemble the Bhotanese than Tibetans, and are a thievish set, 

 finding a refuge under the Paro-Pilo of Bhotan,* who taxes 

 the refugees according to the estimate he forms of their 

 plunder. The Tibetans seldom pursue the culprits, as the 

 Lhassan government avoids all interference south of their 

 own frontier. 



Prom Choombi to Lhassa is fifteen days' long journeys 

 for a man mounted on a stout mule ; all the rice passing 

 through Phari is monopolised there for the Chinese troops 



* There was once a large monastery, called Kazioo Goompa, at Choombi, with 

 upwards of one hundred Lamas. During a struggle between the Sikkim and 

 Bhotan monks for superiority in it, the abbot died. His avatar reappeared in two 

 places at once ! in Bhotan as a relative of the Paro-Pilo himself, and in Sikkim as 

 a brother of the powerful Gangtok Kajee. Their disputes were referred to the 

 Dalai Lama, who pronounced for Sikkim. This was not to be disputed by the 

 Pilo, who, however, plundered the Goompa of its silver, gold, and books, leaving 

 nothing but the bare walls for the successful Lama ! The Lhassan authorities 

 made no attempt to obtain restitution, and the monastery has been consequently 

 neglected. 



