BOOTANo 77 
the most polished manners; but what was wanting in this respect, was 
amply compensated, by an abundant share of good humour. The Zoon- 
donier was tall and athletic, and gave striking indications of a better 
understanding than his associate in office: he possessed at the same 
time an easier and more spirited address. In the beginning of his 
career in life, he had been employed somewhere on the skirts of the 
mountains, and had picked up a few words of the Bengalee lan¬ 
guage, which he was fond of repeating. The ceremony of exchanging 
a pelong scarf passed between us: tea, of course, we were obliged 
to partake of, which is never omitted, let visits be made ever so 
frequently, at any hour of the day. There was nothing worthy re¬ 
capitulation, in these visits; mere common-place offers of civility on 
their part, acknowledgments on mine, and mutual wishes to be better 
acquainted. 
The day was far advanced, when we left the Zoompoon and Z0011- 
donier, so that we were obliged to postpone our visit to the Zempi, until 
the following day. We then found him occupying-apartments adjoin- 
ing to that in which we were introduced to the Daeb, to whom he is 
nearly related. He was a well-formed young man, neither tall nor corpu¬ 
lent, about twenty-four years of age; remarkably mild in his manners, 
and of an open and ingenuous deportment. He had less reserve than 
either of the other ministers, and seemed as yet to have contracted none 
of the austere habits of high office. He expressed himself earnestly 
solicitous to cultivate a friendly and familiar intimacy; urging as an 
inducement, his relative situation, and his age; observing, that in this 
last respect, there was not much disparity between any of us. 
