52 
BOOTAN. 
time had acquired a surprising thickness. I asked her how old she 
was: she told me, ninety; that this was the place of her birth, and that 
she had lived here, ever since. 
The neighbourhood of Murichom is dreadfully infested by a small 
fly, differing much from the musquito, both in form and size; but 
it fixes itself in the same manner, and draws blood with a proboscis, 
whose puncture is not felt, till some time after the attack. When 
satiated, it flies off, leaving behind a small blister full of black con¬ 
taminated blood, which enlarges, inflames, and becomes exceedingly 
irritating and troublesome. Most of the inhabitants are so marked by 
the wounds of this venomous fly, that the parts of their skins exposed 
to the air, are covered with scurf, and being sometimes attended with 
tumours, acquire a most diseased appearance : a severe tax this upon 
so delightful a place as Murichom, which by nature is one of the most 
beautiful I have seen. While we were there, though in the height of 
the hottest season in Bengal, we enjoyed a pleasant temperature 
of air. 
/ 
We proceeded from Murichom, on Sunday the 25th of May, on 
our way to Chuka, and passed by Tetim, once a considerable vil¬ 
lage, situated on the left side of the road, upon the brow of a lofty 
mountain, but of which the greatest part was destroyed by a dreadful 
accident, not many years since. In one tempestuous night, a hur¬ 
ricane swept nine houses down the steep, with the people that were in 
) 
them; and though much search was afterwards made, not a vestige 
of their inhabitants was ever seen. Three houses now remain, and 
their tenants, unawed by the dismal fate of their neighbours, still keep 
