TIBET, 115 



Mayhaung of Laos and Cambodia, and the Sadjoo ox Gagra, which 

 after a course of about 600 miles falls into the Ganges, nearChupra, 



Metals, minerals. ...Bootan is not known to contain any metal ex- 

 cept iron, and a little copper ; but in Tibet Proper gold is found in 

 great quantities and very pure; sometimes in the form of gold dust 

 in the beds of rivers, and sometimes in large masses and irregular 

 veins. There is a lead mine about two days' journey from Teeshoo 

 Loomboo, which probably contains silver. Cinnabar abounding in 

 quick-silver, rock-salt, and tincal, or crude-borax, are likewise among 

 the mineral productions of this country : the latter is found in inex- 

 haustible quantities. 



Climate, soil, produce. ...The climate of Tibet is cold and bleak 

 in the extreme, from the severe effects of which the inhabitants are 

 obliged to seek refuge in sheltered vallies and hollows, or amidst the 

 warmest aspects of the rocks. In the temperature of the seasons, how- 

 ever, a remarkable uniformity prevails, as well as in their periodical 

 duration and return. In Bootan almost every part of the mountains 

 and hills which is coated with the smallest quantity of soil is cleared 

 and adapted to cultivation ; but in Tibet Proper, the nature of the soil 

 prevents the progress of agriculture. Wheat, barley, and rige are 

 grown in Bootan. 



Animals. ...The variety and quantity of beasts of prey, flocks, droves, 

 and herds of wild-fowl and game in Tibet, according to Mr. Turner, 

 are astonishing : in Bootan, he tells us, he met with no wild animals, 

 except monkies. The horses, cattle, and sheep of Tibet are of a di- 

 minutive size, as are most of the beasts of prey. The grunting ox, 

 called by the Tibetians the yak, has been already described. The 

 musk deer is a native of this country. This animal is about the height 

 of a moderately sized hog ; he has in the upper jaw two long tusks 

 directed downwards, which seem intended to serve him to dig roots, 

 his usual food : the musk, which is only found in the male, is of a black 

 colour, and formed in a little bag or turner near the navel. These deer 

 are deemed the property of the state, and hunted only by the permis- 

 sion of government. In Tibet there is also a beautiful species of 

 goats, with straight horns, which have, next the skin, and under the 

 exterior coarse coat, a very fine hair, from which the valuable shawls 

 of India are manufactured. 



Natural curiosities.. .To the north of Tassisudon, Mr. Sanders, 

 who accompanied captain Turner on his embassy, observed a singu- 

 lar rock projecting over a considerable fall of water, and forming 

 in front six or seven hundred angular semi-pillars of a great circum- 

 ference and some hundred feet high. Among the mountains of Boo- 

 tan is a water-fall called Minzapeezo, which issues in a collected bo- 

 dy, but descends from so great a perpendicular height, that before it 

 is received in the thick shade below, it is nearly dissipated, and ap- 

 pears like the steam arising from boiling water. 



Population. ...We have not materials from which the population of 

 this country can be ascertained with any degree of accuracy ; but from 

 the facility with which it has been conquered by the Eluts and other 

 invaders, it appears evident that it is very thinly inhabited in compa- 

 rison to its extent. 



Inhabitants, manners, customs... The people of Bootan and Tibe^ 

 are much more robust and less swarthy than their southern neigh- 

 bours of Bengal. Humanity, and an artificial gentleness of disposition, 

 says Mr. Turner, are the constant inheritance of a Tibetian. Without 



