BOOTAN. 
127 
such impetuosity over uneven rocks, that our horses with difficulty 
kept their legs. On the opposite side, stood a solitary house, where 
we halted for awhile, and were furnished with fresh horses to continue 
our journey. 
From hence a firm road led us along the sides of the hills, which 
were covered all over with an equal verdure. A few handsome firs 
were distributed about, both single and in clusters, at such regular 
intermediate distances, as to induce a belief, that they owed their dis¬ 
position rather to the hand of art than chance. The road, as we ad¬ 
vanced, evidently improved ; it was composed of gravel, perfectly 
even, not less than eight or ten feet wide, and of an easy ascent. 
The weather had now cleared up, and the face of nature had re¬ 
ceived much embellishment from the late fall of rain. The mountains 
heaving their swelling ridges, decked with a rich verdant robe, into a 
bright blue sky, skirted too with luxuriant groves and intersecting 
streams, which ran winding along their bases, displayed a regularity 
and softness of feature, that is seldom seen in the wild but sublime 
scenery of Bootan. 
We met on this road, one of the Daeb Raja's brothers, a Gylong, 
riding on a Tangun horse. He was preceded by many attendants, and 
among them was a man who played upon a sort of hautboy, or reed 
instrument, which he blew, from the moment we came in sight, till we 
had passed beyond the reach of the sound, with a strong and conti¬ 
nued blast. Every man of rank, who moves from home upon occa¬ 
sions of ceremony, is attended by a person of this description, who, I 
am assured, blows his instrument from the time the chief mounts his 
