SEWING MAIDS IN OLD COSTUMES, NOW DISCARDED 



made inquiries, and found that as re- 

 cently as 30 years ago, when Sir Ugyen 

 left the valley, a boy of 12, there was 

 nothing but jungle either here or on the 

 slopes opposite. The land had only been 

 brought into cultivation since the inter- 

 necine quarrels had ceased some 18 years 

 ago. So much for stability of govern- 

 ment; but even now poverty reigns, and 

 the valley is only prosperous in compari- 

 son with more unlucky ones. 



As soon as we had settled down, Sir 

 Ugyen's sister, his two daughters, and a 

 daughter of the Thimbu Jongpen came 

 to add their welcome. The younger ones 

 were rather pretty, unaffected and merry 

 girls, while the sister, although a grand- 

 mother, was full of good nature and 

 showed traces of good looks. They all 

 wore their quaint and distinctive dress, 



which consists of a long piece of Bhu- 

 tanese cloth, woven in colored stripes, 

 draped round the figure, and fastened on 

 the shoulders and confined at the waist 

 by a band of brighter Bhutanese cloth. 

 They also wore necklaces of large, rough 

 beads of coral, turquoise, and amber, and 

 occasionally gold filigree beads and many 

 bangles of gold and silver (page 434). 

 Their hair was left unornamented and 

 either cut short or worn in two long 

 plaits. The elder daughter brought her 

 little son, to whom I gave a bottle of 

 sweets, which pleased him just as much 

 as it would a little Western boy, and his 

 mother told me later that he ever after 

 loved me for my gift. 



Very soon after our arrival Sir Ugyen 

 took me all over his house. On the east 

 front, occupying the whole width of the 



427 



