THE EOYAL AETILLEEY INSTITUTION. 
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unstable, a new aspirant to the honour has but to bribe the Penlow and he 
is allowed to try his hand at ousting him who holds the appointment; a 
fight takes place, and the victor is allowed to hold authority on the payment 
of a few more bribes. The people do not appear unhappy, neither do they 
seem to be tyrannized over—at least I speak of the native Bhootea ; the 
Bengalee slave, however, leads a miserable existence, his very nature being 
unable to bear against the cold climate of the mountains. 
The monasteries taking away as they do so many of the able-bodied men, 
leave a large proportion of unmarried women, and the existence of polyandry 
makes the disproportion between married men and women still greater; 
hence vice and immorality reign throughout the country, and the natural 
consequence, disease, commits fearful ravages among the people. An 
intelligent Bhootea of the superior class told us that there were few men or 
women in Bhootan who had not suffered from the terrible scourge. 
I cannot but believe that this is the main cause of so few Bhooteas 
reaching an advanced age, for the climate is pre-eminently good. Small-pox 
also prevails to an alarming extent, nearly every full-grown man is marked 
by it; their dirt, vice, and gluttony lays them open to all diseases. They 
are besides inveterate drunkards, never losing an opportunity that presents 
itself of becoming intoxicated off a vile spirit made from millet, the taste 
and smell of which is equally sickening. 
The Bhootea is armed with bow and arrows; he has besides a straight, 
heavy sword, without a hilt, which he uses for all purposes, for felling 
timber and carpentering as well as for fighting. The Sepoy has a matchlock 
and helmet, the latter made of iron or brass, with a flap of chain-armour 
hanging down the back. The arrows are often poisoned, but not one of 
our men wounded with a poisoned arrow died from the effects of the poison, 
so it may be safely considered harmless. The catapult is extensively used 
in their forts, and is a formidable weapon of defence, the steep sides of the 
hill presenting every advantage to a falling mass of stones, which reach into 
steep gullies not visible to a matchlock man. The Bhootea is an admirable 
woodman, and few surpass him in rapidity and dexterity when building 
stockades. In appearance he is fairer than the inhabitants of Hindostan, of 
decided Tartar physiognomy, stoutly built, and with little or no hair upon 
his face. His dress consists of one garment, only a long wide dressing-gown, 
fastened by a sash or piece of cotton round the waist; in the breast of this 
coat he carries all the articles he requires for his toilet, and also his wooden 
drinking cup, without which he never moves. 
This dressing gown is, when new, of brightly coloured cloth, often in 
stripes, which gives a gay appearance to the picturesque savage, armed, as 
he always is, with sword, bow and arrows, but as it is never washed, these 
colours soon become indistinct. 
Early in October, 1864, I received orders to proceed to the eastern 
frontier of India, to join the force then assembling for the invasion of 
Bhootan. After making all arrangements incident to a journey over 1000 
miles, I proceeded towards Calcutta, for I found it impossible to obtain the 
slightest reliable information as to the most direct route to the place 
mentioned as my destination, Cherrapoonjie. 
On arriving at Calcutta I discovered that this most direct route was by 
steamer, up the Brahmapootra; and I was further informed that the corps 
