238 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
so are peaches and apricots, and likewise pomegra- 
nates ; — walnuts also grow in great perfection : and 
with these luxuries the simple-minded but indolent 
Bouteas are content. They have vegetables in equal 
abundance and variety ; but generally these are such as 
would he rejected by a more fastidious European taste, 
on account of their harshness or rankness of flavour. 
To this, however, the turnip peculiar to the country 
is a notable exception, being one of the finest esculents 
in the world. It is very large, entirely free from fibres, 
and remarkably sweet. The Bouteas are justly proud 
of it, and eat it in vast quantities, it being as nutri- 
tive as it is delicious. 
Although indifferent about the produce of their 
gardens, the natives of Boutan are sufficiently careful 
in the cultivation of the soil generally. They are not 
had husbandmen, — if such a term may he applied 
where the labours of husbandry are mostly performed 
by women, who are sufficiently industrious and 
by no means deficient in skill. They sow, plant, 
dress, and weed the fields ; water the pastures where 
these are in situations to require it ; reap, gather in 
the corn, prepare it for the mill, grind, and finally 
make it into bread. They are constantly occupied in 
the most arduous labours, while their tyrants enjoy 
the luxurious indolence of repose under trees with 
which their valleys abound, or bask in inglorious ease 
upon the floors of their habitations. The women 
are here, as in all Eastern countries, the slaves of 
their husbands and fathers, who usually treat them 
with heartless indifference. 
The Boutea wives are distinguished for their 
