BOOTAN, 
95 
ferred upon them a higher price, and a decided preference, with the 
opulent and the aged. There were also three or four fat handsome 
Toorkey horses, which somehow or other fell into the hands of the 
Booteeas, during their war with us upon their frontier. They had 
been brought, I was informed, by the w r ay of Dalimcotta, the safest 
passage over the mountains to this place, where now it is their fate to 
remain prisoners in the stable, unless when taken abroad, to be loaded 
with superb trappings, and to act a part in some grand procession. 
Near this spot, I was told, the castle of Tassisudon w r as formerly 
situated; but about fifteen years ago, during the inauspicious reign of 
Daeb Jeeder, being consumed by fire, the royal residence was in con¬ 
sequence removed nearer the centre, being the widest part of the 
valley. 
The low hill on which the palace, or residence, of Lam’ Ghassatoo 
stands, is upon the left, and, as long as they lasted, we were induced 
to loiter away many an evening, in picking strawberries from its sides, 
which were clothed with them from its foot to the very foundation of 
the palace walls. The Gylongs used to look at us from the windows 
with amazement; they, for their parts, hold this delicious little fruit in 
contempt, and abandon it to those, who have only to depend on the 
spontaneous productions of nature, for their support. The species we 
here found was pointed, conical, of a small size, like the alpine 
strawberry; rather seedy, and not quite so high flavoured as those 
that grow in the woods of England. 
We sometimes extended our walk, by ascending a path that skirted 
an adjoining mountain: it was formed by the side of an aqueduct, that 
