50 
BOOTAN. 
of’ carriage for our baggage, and our servants also began to require 
rest, after travelling over a country so difficult and rugged as that we 
had passed. 
Murichom consists of about twenty houses, in their structure much 
superior to any I had yet seen in Bootan. They are built of stone, 
with clay as cement, of a square form, and the walls narrowing from 
the foundations to the top. The roof is supported clear of the walls, 
has a very low pitch, and is composed of fir boards placed length¬ 
ways on cross beams and joists of fir, and confined by large stones 
laid upon the top. The lower part of the house accommodates hogs, 
cows, and other animals. The family occupies the first story, to which 
they ascend by a ladder, composed of one half of a split fir tree; into 
the fiat side of which, rude holes are cut at proper distances to serve 
as steps. 
The floors are boarded and the doors double; they turn on pivots, 
and shut against an upright post in the middle of the doorway. The 
rooms are lofty, and there is commonly, on one or two sides, a projecting 
balcony for the admission of light and air, which affords also a pleasant 
place to sit in. The space between the ceiling of the upper apartment and 
the roof, is use/1 for a granary or store-room, and serves for a repository 
of fire wood, and other lumber. The village is situated on the top of the 
mountain, crowned with an extensive space of level ground. This was 
covered with a rich verdure; and on its borders were many ancient 
spreading pepul c trees, peaches, and willows. From our windows we 
could behold much cultivated land, covered with different sorts of 
c Ficus indica, Linmci. 
