INTRODUCTION. 
Vll 
that few of its southern neighbours could endure its severity; while 
its natives, clad in woollens, and little accustomed to the purifications 
which prevail so universally among the former, suffer nearly as much 
from the sultry and humid atmosphere of Bengal. Nor do the two 
countries differ less in salubrity. To the same cause, therefore, may 
be ascribed the difference in the bodily construction of the two people, 
and in their moral character, which is, in a great degree, the result of 
that construction. 
The mountains of Bootan form a part of the great chain, which 
geographers call by the general appellation of Mons Imaus, and of 
which frequent mention is made, in the mythological histories of the 
Brahmens, by the term of Himaloya. At their feet, a wide and exten¬ 
sive plain, covered with woods, and sunk in morasses, forms a natural 
division between Bengal and Bootan, being nearly unfit for the support 
of human life, and almost entirely destitute of inhabitants. Yet in the 
year 17 72, the Raja of Bootan, with what plea, or from what provoca¬ 
tion, I have not been able to learn, laid claim to the district of Cooch 
Bahar, which adjoins to it on the side of Bengal; and, meeting with 
little resistance from the natives, rapidly gained possession of it. This 
appears to have been the first instance of hostility between the two 
countries ; and it had proceeded to its last extremity, before the govern¬ 
ment of Bengal, which had hitherto derived no benefit from the con¬ 
tested territory, was well apprized of what had befallen it. The example, 
however, was dangerous, and a detachment of native infantry, gradually 
