SOME JOURNEYS IN BHUTAN 



381 



in a bhutanESE fortress 

 Crossing the foss, which separates the 

 outer courts from the fort by a heavy 

 drawbridge, we passed through a huge 

 gateway and found ourselves in the east- 

 ern courtyard, in the center of which is 

 the smaller of two citadels, equal in 

 height and occupied by petty officials (see 

 page 388). A series of rooms and ve- 

 randas overlooking the river is built 

 against the inside of the east and north 

 outer walls, and a covered veranda, one 

 story in height, occupies nearly the whole 

 western front. 



The penlop's rooms are situated in the 

 southeast corner, on the floor above, and 

 we entered through a long, low room 

 filled with retainers seated in four rows, 

 two on each side, facing each other — a 

 scene which made one think of the old 

 baronial halls in bygone English days. 

 To add to this impression, the reception- 

 room was large and handsomely deco- 

 rated, and the walls were hung with arms 

 of all descriptions — shields, spears, match- 

 locks, guns, bows and arrows of every 

 imaginable kind — all well kept and ready 

 for use. 



The penlop, or governor, received us 

 in a large bay-window looking down the 

 valley, but the visit was dull and uninter- 

 esting, as he seemed to know little of the 

 history of his country, and what little in- 

 formation we did extract was vague and 

 inaccurate. According to the usual cus- 

 tom, I made him some presents, and 

 shortly after took my leave, receiving 

 permission to inspect the fort and to pay 

 a visit to his private house across the 

 valley (see page 391). 



The fort is said to have been built 

 toward the end of the sixteenth century, 

 and does not seem to have suffered from 

 the earthquake of 1897, which shattered 

 Tashi-cho-jong and Poonakha. On the 

 first floor is the temple, the gompa, or 

 public chapel, of which is a very finely 

 proportioned hall, well lighted, and with 

 galleries running round the main building. 



It is a much larger room than the one 

 in the Potala at Lhasa, where the Tibetan 

 Treaty was signed, and all its decorations 

 are good, a hanging lattice-work of 

 pierced brass in front of the altar espe- 



cially being very fine and quite unusual. 

 At the other end of the west veranda is 

 the private chapel of the Ta-tshangs, or 

 state lamas, and there we were received 

 by their head, the Abbot Lama Kun-yang 

 Namgyel, who went to Lhasa with the 

 Tibet Mission and exercised a good in- 

 fluence among the monks there. He 

 gladly showed us all there was to be seen. 



The larger of the two citadels is in the 

 center of the western courtyard, at the 

 northwest angle of the building, and 1 

 noticed old catapults for throwing great 

 stones, carefully stored in the rafters of 

 the veranda. In the northeast corner are 

 the rooms for distinguished guests, and 

 there is a guard-house in the parade 

 ground beyond the drawbridge. The fort 

 is protected on the side away from the 

 river by several small outlying block- 

 houses (see page 385). 



The penlop's (governor's) private 

 house, where he passes some part of his 

 time, lies on the other side of the river 

 and is the residence of his wives (see 

 page 390). No female is allowed to enter 

 the fort, and at night the gates are closed 

 and opened for no one. In this house 

 the jongpen lives amicably with two 

 wives, the younger one being the daugh- 

 ter of the elder woman by a former hus- 

 band. The elder woman was intelligent 

 and had a great deal to say, but the 

 younger one was shy and very silent. 



THE HEADQUARTERS OE THE GOVERNMENT 



Three marches brought us to Tashi- 

 cho-jong, the summer quarters of the 

 Bhutan government. En route we camped 

 under an immense "weeping cypress," 51 

 feet in girth at 4 feet from the ground, 

 and the latter part of the march before 

 reaching the castle was most interesting, 

 as we passed through country replete 

 with historic interest connected with the 

 different battles which had taken place 

 between rival clans for its possession, 

 fortunately now things of the past. 



Tashi-cho-jong is an imposing edifice, 

 in the form of a parallelogram, the sides 

 parallel to the river being twice the length 

 of the other two. It differs from other 

 forts in one particular. Instead of only 

 one gate, it possesses two large gateways 

 on the south, and another to the east, on 



