SOME JOURNEYS IN BHUTAN 



375 



the use of the bow and arrow or of 

 muskets. On the north of the castle are 

 two round towers that command the road 

 from Tibet. On the east side the rock 

 is rough and steep, and close under the 

 walls on the west is a large basin of 

 water, the only reservoir I had seen in 

 Bhutan. 



"The castle of Dug-gye-jong is a very 

 substantial stone building, with high 

 walls ; but so irregular is its figure that 

 it is evident no other design was followed 

 in its construction than to cover all the 

 level space on the top of the hill on which 

 it stands. Having ascended to the gate- 

 way at the foot of the walls, we had still 

 to mount about a dozen steps through a 

 narrow passage, after which w T e landed 

 upon a semicircular platform edged with 

 a strong wall pierced with loop-holes. 

 Turning to the right, we passed through 

 a second gateway and went along a wide 

 lane with stables for horses on each side. 

 The third gateway conducted us to the in- 

 terior of the fortress, being a large square, 

 the angles of which had three suites of 

 rooms. In the center of the square was 

 a temple dedicated to Mahamoonie and 

 his concomitant idols." 



I found the whole of the premises very 

 clean. The jongpen, who was appointed 

 by, and is a staunch adherent of, the 

 Tongsa Penlop, Sir Ugyen, and had been 

 to Lhasa in the latter s suite, received us 

 cordially, and entertained us with a Bhu- 

 tanese lunch of scrambled eggs and sweet 

 rice, colored with saffron, accompanied 

 by murzvah (beer) and chang (spirit), 

 also colored with saffron, fresh milk, and 

 a desert of walnuts and dried fruits. His 

 wife, who prepared the meal, was one of 

 the cleanest and best-looking women I 

 have seen in Bhutan ; and her little boy, 

 wearing an exact copy, in miniature, of 

 his father's dress, was a nice little chap. 



The Dug-gye armory is said to be the 

 best in the country, and is contained in a 

 fine room, with a large bow window fac- 

 ing south and looking down the valley— - 

 in the Tongsa Penlop's opinion the best 

 balcony in Bhutan (see pages 372, 431). 



In the outer courtyard men were mak- 

 ing gunpowder. A silversmith and a 

 wood-turner were also at work, and in 

 the inner courtyard were piles of shin- 



gles (pieces of flat wood) ready for re- 

 roofing the castle, which has to be en- 

 tirely redone every five years. Altogether 

 there was an air of bustling activity 

 which was pleasant to meet with. 



A MONASTERY PUII,T OVKR A PRECIPICE 



We remained as guests of the jongpen 

 for two days in order to visit the famous 

 Monastery of Paro Ta-tshang, which is 

 situated on the opposite side of the val- 

 ley, about 3,000 feet up. The road was 

 reported to be very bad, and it certainly 

 was, and I was glad I had not brought 

 my own animals, but had borrowed mules 

 from the jongpen for all our party. The 

 road to the top of the spur was very 

 steep, with frozen, slippery patches, 

 where it was shady and very hot in the 

 sun. It ran in one place in a narrow path 

 across a precipice, with a tremendous 

 drop below, and in another became a se- 

 ries of steep stone steps (see page 430). 



On reaching the top of the ridge we 

 first came in sight of the monastery build- 

 ings, grouped on an almost perpendicular 

 hillside in the most picturesque manner. 

 The main temple is erected on what is 

 practically a crack in a perpendicular 

 rock over 2,000 feet in height, and along 

 the crack there are a few more subsidiary 

 buildings. 



Each building is two stories high and 

 is painted, like all monasteries, a dull 

 light gray on the lower story, with a 

 broad band of madder red above, and 

 shingle roofs, on the top of which are 

 gilded canopies. It was unquestionably 

 the most picturesque group of buildings 

 I had seen. Every natural feature in the 

 landscape had been taken advantage of, 

 and beautiful old trees clinging to the 

 rocks were in just the right position and, 

 combined with the sheer precipices, made 

 a magnificent picture. 



We appeared to be quite close, but were 

 really separated from the buildings by an 

 almost inaccessible gorge. The only ap- 

 proach was by a narrow path or series of 

 steps, where a foot misplaced would pre- 

 cipitate you to the bottom, 1,000 feet be- 

 low, then across a plank bridge, and up 

 another series of little steps cut in the 

 rock. The native hospital assistant had 



