142 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OE 
post so far up a pass of this description, and wisely not risking an encounter 
with an enemy who would of a certainty be posted in a strong position, when 
even success would to us be of no utility. We therefore retired, and w r ere 
even more struck, when on the way back, with the grandeur of the scenery 
and the immense strength of the pass. 
The plateau around Eephoo Chung was cleared completely, all the 
outhouses but one were razed, provisions for two months were left for the 
police detachment of 30 men who were to garrison this post, and on the 30th 
January the remainder started on their return to the main column. I should 
mention that the fat Bhootea was permitted to inhabit his outhouse; this 
man could read, and had undoubtedly been left behind, when his countrymen 
fled, to be able to give information of our doings. We had by his means 
arrived at the contents of a letter which Mr Metcalf had received at Dewan- 
gari, from the Dhurm Raja; it was to the effect that we should not delay 
sending him the tribute due, or he might be obliged to write again, that 
he was straitened for cash, not having received the tax from other portions 
of his kingdom, and he drew particular attention to the red seal attached to 
the document. On finding who the writer was, our fat friend of Bhootan 
raised the document to his forehead with an air of the deepest reverence and 
respect. 
On our return to Goosagoan we made for the village of Dootma, where 
the main column were supposed to be, we found the intervening country 
consisted of about eight miles of mostly well cultivated land, with many appa¬ 
rently well-to-do villages, the plains well intersected with streams, one of 
which gave us considerable trouble in crossing, the banks being of soft clay 
and loam into which elephants, ponies, and even men, sank deep. The 
Bhooteas who had been captured by Mr Metcalf at Dootma, were here 
permitted by him to depart with their wives and a bandy-legged little dog 
who had quite taken a fancy to the white-faced men; these Bhooteas 
declared that they dare not now return to the mountains of Bhootan, as it 
would be believed that they had played the part of traitors and would 
assuredly lose their heads, they therefore decided to inhabit the stockade at 
Goosagoan, the inhabitants of which village appeared nothing loth to have 
them, the Bhooteas being adepts at distilling liquor and cunning hands at 
mixing tobaccos. 
My health had up to the present been on the whole excellent. At Jogee- 
gopah and at Sidlee I had had slight attacks of fever, which left me after a 
few doses of quinine, but now, at Dootma, I got a sharper attack, inaugurated, 
as it usually is, by hours of shivering ague: it is an abominable sensation, 
and quite took away any pleasure derivable from the march, which brought 
us to the villages of Paquaragoan, Putnabaree, and Chapur, on the 1st, 2nd, 
and 3rd days of Pebruary respectively. The marches were of 10, 13, and 
8 miles, and the country was of the same description as that we had met on 
the road from Jogeegopah to Bijnee. The even surface of the plain, broken 
by the uprising of little mountains densely covered with the jungle; streams, 
and rivers innumerable intersecting the country, nine-tenths of the surface 
of which was covered by tropical grass in which wild animals swarmed. Now 
and then we would come to a deep nullah, or ravine of water and mud, 
into which the elephants would sink helplessly, the passage of which would 
much delay our column. Occasionally the plains of high rank grass would 
