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BOOTAN 



detestable vermin. Our reception would seem to be uncordial : we 

 are miserably housed in the heart of the village, which is a beggarly- 

 one. On descending the hill some people in the Pillo's house behaved 

 very insolently, roaring out, and making most insolent signs for me 

 to dismount, of which of course I took no notice : sparrow-hawk was 

 seen at 8,000 feet. There is but little cultivation, indeed the 

 adjoining hills are barren in the extreme. The little cultivation 

 there is of barley, which is now in the ear, and decent enough ; 

 the crops being much better than any we have yet seen, although 

 in many fields it is difficult to see any crop at all. The village, in- 

 cluding the houses on the surrounding adjoining heights does not 

 contain thirty houses. There is one flock of sheep, which are in 

 good condition, some small shawl-goats, and a few cattle, but of a 

 lighter breed than the Mithans, from which they are very distinct, 

 and which we have scarcely seen since crossing Dhonglaila, the first 

 high ridge. There is some rice cultivation along the nullah or 

 torrent, on which the village is situated. Pears, peaches likewise 

 occur, and are now both in flower. The hills around are bare, nothing 

 but shrubby vegetation being visible, the tree-jungle not descending 

 below 7,500 feet, except on one spur to the south-west, on which it 

 reaches nearly to our present level. 



The shrubby vegetation consists of Hamamelidse, Salix, Gaultheria 

 fruticosa, Rosa, Rubus, Pomacea, Elaeagnus, Berberis asiatica, among 

 which Artemisia major occurs on sward. Primula Stuartii, Potentilla 

 and P. supina, Oxalis acetoseltoides, Juncus, Bartramia, Polytrichum 

 glaucum, Fragaria vesca. In the fields Lamium, Crucifera, Thlaspi, 

 Gnaphalium aureum, Prenanthoid, Fragaria indica, Viola, Ranuncu- 

 lus, Oxalis acetosella, Poa annua. 



Urtica urens, and urentior occur about the houses, Cupressus 

 pendula and a Magnoliaceous tree, with exquisitely fragrant blossoms. 



The palace is a huge, long, straggling piece of patch- work, of ordi- 

 nary construction, and less imposing than that of Byagur, which the 

 Pillo makes his summer residence on the Bhoomlungtung ; it is 

 however ornamented with three gilt umbrellas. It is situated on the 

 bank of the nullah, and defended by some outworks, 6 to 700 feet 

 above it ; to the east, these might, from their situation, be easily 

 demolished by stones. The palace itself is commanded in every di- 

 rection, particularly by the hill, along which we came from Jaisa; 

 indeed a person might jump from the summit of this on to the outpost, 

 and thence on to the palace ; so precipitous is the descent. 



