BOOTAN. 
5 9 
laboured over the sides of the mountains, on which there are nothing now 
but pines and firs. We had proceeded about five or six miles, when, ai 
a small distance from the road, my eye was caught by a bridge for foot 
passengers, of an extraordinary construction. It was composed of two 
chains stretched parallel to each other across the river, distant four 
feet from each other, and on either side resting upon a pile of stones 
raised upon each bank about eight feet high : they were carried down 
with an easy slope and buried in the rock, where, being fastened round 
a large stone, they were confined by a quantity of broken rock heaped 
on them. A plank about eight inches broad, hung longitudinally, 
suspended across the river with roots and creepers, wound over the 
chains with a slackness sufficient to allow the centre to sink to the 
depth of four feet below the chains. This bridge, called Selochazum, 
measured from one side of the water to the other seventy feet. The 
creepers are changed annually : the planks are all loose; so that if 
the creepers give way in any part, they can be removed, and that par¬ 
ticular part repaired without disturbing the whole. At a distance from 
hence we passed Durbee castle, built upon the crown of a very steep 
rock, which stands on the road to Paro, and within its district. 
The foot of the rock is washed by the Tehintchieu-Patchieu, over 
which, is thrown a wooden bridge, constructed of long beams of fir, 
reaching from side to side, with deal planks placed crossways on them, 
and bound down with bands of bamboo. Although these bridges arc 
strong, yet they are of a most simple structure; and there is this pe¬ 
culiar advantage in them over heavy masses of masonry, that in times 
of commotion, they can be very quickly removed on the slightest 
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