BOOTAN, 
57 
dismounted from my horse, and loitered away much time in culling 
the ripest from the banks. I was much pleased with the recognition 
of many well known English plants, such as docks, nettles, primroses, 
and dog-rose bushes, which were now in full bloom. The cuckoo’s 
call, brought strongly to my imagination, the season and situations, 
in which I had formerly listened to that harbinger of spring; and 
the harmony of various other birds gave additional force to the 
impression. We now passed one of the numberless cascades, which, 
rolling over mossy stones, seek concealment in the groves below. The 
mountains here began to wear some marks of husbandry and fertility, 
and many large spaces of ground were dressed for cultivation, being 
sown with different kinds of grain. 
NearPunugga there was a very fine crop of barley almost fit for reap¬ 
ing: here too were the first pine trees I had seen in Bootan, some ashes, 
and peach trees. The summits of the mountains in this day’s journey 
were constantly concealed by the clouds. We travelled the greatest 
part of the way through these clouds, and felt the air extremely chilly. 
It was five o’clock when we came to Punugga, a village situated in a 
hollow, and surrounded with mountains for the most part covered 
with pines, along whose sides clouds were perpetually flitting. After 
the sun had withdrawn it became very cold, and we were all glad to 
have recourse to a lively fire, made of the turpentine fir. On the bor¬ 
ders of this village, were many large heaps of fir leaves, collected, I 
was told, for the purpose of manuring the ground. They are heaped 
together as they fall from the trees, and left to ferment and rot, in 
which state they are esteemed excellent manure. 
