90 
BOOT AN. 
Tehintchieu, ornament its border, by an easy slope of their bases to its 
sides; thus forming a bank of the richest soil, which the industrious 
* 
Booteea well knows how to cultivate. It was, upon our arrival, luxuri¬ 
antly clothed with the most promising crops of rice, which, in defect 
of rain, all the springs of the surrounding mountains, are artificially 
conducted to fertilize. There is no town, nor indeed any house, except 
that which we occupied, within a mile of the palace; but a few clusters 
of houses, distributed in different parts among the fields, when the eye 
is weary of contemplating the bold features of near and distant moun¬ 
tains, and scanning their wonderful combinations, serve as points of 
rest, and call back the wandering mind from a rude incoherent chaos, 
to repose amidst the fruitful and ingenious efforts of husbandry and 
population. 
The castle, or palace, of Tassisudon* stands near the centre of the 
valley, and is a building of stone, of a quadrangular form. The length 
of the front, exceeds that of the sides by one-third: the walls are lofty, 
and as I conjecture upwards of thirty feet high, and they are sloped a 
little from the foundation to the top: above the middle space, is a row 
of projecting balconies, to each of which are curtains made of black 
hair, which are always drawn at night: below, the walls are pierced 
with very small windows, which I judge to be intended rather for the 
purpose of admitting air, than light. There are two entrances into the 
palace: the one facing the south is by a flight of wooden steps, edged 
with plates of iron, beginning on a level with the ground on the out¬ 
side, and rising to the more elevated terrace within, the whole being 
a Plate VI. 
