Productions of Boutan and Thibet. j 05 
I explained to the Rajah the operation of tapping, and fhewed 
him the inftrument with which it was done. He very ear- 
neftly expreffed a defire that I (hould perform the operation, 
and wifhed much for a proper fubjedt ; fuch a one did not 
occur while I remained, and perhaps it was as well both for 
the Rajah’s patients and my own credit ; for after having feen 
it once done, he would not have hefitated about a repetition of 
the operation. Gravelifh complaints and the ftone in the blad- 
der are, I believe, difeafes unknown here. 
The fmall-pox, when it appears among them, is a difeafe that 
ftrikes them with too much terror and confirmation to admit 
of their treating it properly. Their attention is not employed in 
faving the lives of the infe&ed, but in preferving themfelves 
from the difeafe. All communication with the infedted is 
ftri&ly forbidden, even at the rifle of their being ftarved, and 
the houfe or village is afterwards erafed. A promifeuous and 
free intercourfe with their neighbours not being allowed, the 
difeafe is very feldom to be met with, and its progrefs 
always checked by the vigilance and terror of the natives. 
Few in the country have had the difeafe. Inoculation, if 
ever introduced, muft be very general to prevent the devaftation 
that would be made by the infe&ion in the natural way ; and 
where there could not be any choice in the fubjedl fit to receive 
the difeafe, many muft fall a facrifice to it. The prefent Ra- 
jah of Thibet was inoculated, with fome of his followers, 
when in China with the late Tilhoo Lama. 
The hot bath is ufed in many diforders, particularly in 
complaints of the bowels and cutaneous eruptions. The hot 
wells of Thibet are reforted to by thoufands. In Boutan they 
fubftitute water warmed by hot ftones thrown into it. 
Vol. LXXIX. P 
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