JOURNAL 



OF 



THE ASIATIC SOCIETY 



No. 88.— APRIL, 1839. 



Art. I. — Journal of the Mission which visited Bootan, in 1837-38, 

 under Captain R. Boileau Pembbrton. By W. Griffith, Esq. 

 Madras Medical Establishment. 



(Continued from page 241.) 



PART II. 



\Remarks on the nature of the country, especially its vegetation, boundaries, and 

 divisions — its government, population, sects, character, customs, manners, and diet — 

 political relations. ] 



The following remarks suggested themselves to me during the 

 bird's eye view I had of Bootan ; their superficiality is only to be ex- 

 cused by the shortness of my stay, the want of proper interpreters, the 

 jealousy of the Booteas, and extreme mendacity of such of their 

 Bengal subjects from whom, in my total ignorance of the Bootea 

 language, information was alone to be expected. And as I had daily 

 opportunities of seeing the constancy with which the head of the 

 Mission amassed all available information, I contented myself with 

 remarking on external rather than internal objects, on the face of 

 nature, rather than on that of men. Bootan, I need scarcely observe, 

 is a mountainous country, forming a considerable part of the most 

 magnificent chain of mountains in the universe ; in it are to be found 

 all degrees of elevation, from 1000 to 25,000 feet. In its extent it is 

 rather more limited than was supposed, since Capt. Pemberton has as- 

 certained that the country to the eastward, which is ruled by the 

 Towang Rajah, is directly dependent on, and forms a portion of the 

 Lhassa government. 



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