92 
BOOTAN, 
depositing all kinds of stores. A covered gallery, runs all round 
them; beneath which are subterraneous places, serving for kitchens, 
A range of good rooms, with boarded floors, on the first story, accom¬ 
modates all the officers of state, who are attendant on the Raja; and 
these again, towards the square, are skirted by a deep varanda, sup¬ 
ported by a row of handsome pillars, whose capitals are ornamented 
with carved work and gilding, and their sides painted with ver¬ 
milion. The varandas are lofty and broad, and are not, in my opinion, 
without an air of magnificence. 
Over this story, is a sort of terrace of cement, with rooms more 
roughly finished, which are intended for the inferior officers, styled 
Zeenkaubs; they are covered only by the roof, which is constructed 
in the usual manner, of cross beams of fir, resting upon upright posts, 
and planks of deal placed on them, with large stones to keep them 
down. These beams are supported high above the walls, and project 
far beyond them. The north square is, in appearance, a very confused 
assemblage of apartments; I fear, therefore, that it will scarcely be 
possible to give an intelligible description of it: let it then suffice to 
say, that it is composed of a motley mixture of kitchens, cells, and 
temples. 
We had now become tolerably well settled in our quarters; but, not¬ 
withstanding a vertical sun, the coldness of the weather, to our feel¬ 
ings, who had been so lately accustomed to the hot region of Bengal, 
recalled the idea of something beyond the rigour of an Indian winter; 
and consequently our first care, after taking possession of our mansion, 
was employed in lining the wainscots of the apartments, with the thickest 
