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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



were properly worked, they ought to sup- 

 ply all the tea districts in India with 

 boxes, and would then soon bring in some 

 of the much-needed revenue to Bhutan ; 

 but European capital and supervision 

 are absolutely necessary or otherwise the 

 forests will be destroyed. 



In eastern Bhutan the hills are densely 

 clothed with forests, but with practically 

 no population, as it is too fever-stricken 

 to allow of any one living there. They 

 are, however, the haunt of almost every 

 kind of wild animal ■ — - elephant, rhino, 

 tiger, leopard, bison, mythun, sambur, 

 cheetah, hog-deer, barking deer, etc. The 

 river beds are full of runs leading to the 

 various salt-licks which occur in the hills. 



On one of my visits in this section a 

 magnificent tusker went up the valley 

 ahead of me, and Ugyen Kazi, who 

 pitched his camp higher up the valley, 

 was obliged to move his tents, owing to 

 the numbers of wild elephants making it 

 too unpleasant for him to stay. 



While I was examining some coal de- 

 posits a large tigress, with her cub, walked 

 down the valley, and on my return I 

 found her pugs (footprints), with the 

 little one's pug inside one of her own. 

 It is an ideal place for shooting, but not 

 easy to follow game, owing to the ex- 

 treme steepness of the sandstone cliffs. 

 The elephant in its wild state can go over 

 or down nearly anything, and the tusker 

 I mentioned I found had gone up a preci- 

 pice 30 feet high at an angle very little 

 short of perpendicular. 



a torrent frozen solid in one night 



My second journey opened with an 

 experience of what bad weather can be 

 at these altitudes, for on leaving Chumbi 

 early in December we came upon an ex- 

 ceptionally severe blizzard. The wind 

 rapidly became a veritable hurricane and 

 the temperature dropped to — 26 0 Fah- 

 renheit. A roaring torrent close to our 

 halting place, which at first kept us 

 awake, gradually became more and more 

 silent as the cold increased, and by morn- 

 ing it was frozen solid (see page 366). 



I had marched on to a small bungalow 

 at a place called Goutsa, where although 

 everything, even the tea and milk, froze 

 solid, I could at least have a fire and 



some protection from the storm ; but two 

 of my party had camped out in the hope 

 of shooting a "shau" (Cervus sinencis), 

 news of which had been brought in. The 

 stag was reported to have a magnificent 

 head, and as I have seen specimens with 

 antlers measuring 64 inches, he was a 

 trophy worth trying for. They, how- 

 ever, saw nothing of him and, greatly to 

 my relief, came in the next day none the 

 worse for their rough experience. 



The following morning was brilliant 

 and we went on to Phari, where there is 

 a fine old weather-beaten fort built by 

 the Tibetans, the headquarters of a jong- 

 pen, a Tibetan military official. The 

 town is very dirty, the dirtiest I have 

 come across, and the people living in it 

 are also dirty; but it is difficult to keep 

 clean at an elevation of over 15,000 feet, 

 in such a climate, with no fuel except 

 yak's dung, with its accompaniment of 

 acrid smoke. 



We had now reached Bhutan and, 

 crossing the Temo-la (16,500 feet), we 

 entered it in glorious weather. We trav- 

 eled through wonderful scenery, crossing 

 and recrossing torrents and surrounded 

 by pine forests. 



THE CAST EE OE DUG-GYE 



The first place of interest we came to 

 was Dug-gye Jong (see page 368), a fort 

 built to protect this route from a possible 

 raid by Tibet. The fort is magnificently 

 situated on a projecting spur in the mid- 

 dle of the valley, with high snow peaks 

 on either side and lovely views looking 

 down the valley. The jongpen (or gen- 

 eral) had sent out gaily caparisoned 

 mules to meet us. 



I cannot describe Dug-gye better than 

 Captain Turner, who had visited it 120 

 years before ; the scene does not seem to 

 have altered in the least. 



"The approach to the only entrance is 

 defended by three round towers, placed 

 between the castle and the foot of the 

 hill and connected together by a double 

 wall, so that a safe communication be- 

 tween them is preserved even in times of 

 the greatest peril. Around each of these 

 towers, near the top, a broad ledge pro- 

 jects, the edges of which are fortified by 

 a mud wall, with loop-holes adapted to 



