152 
BOOTAN. 
this old man survives, will, if he has not forgotten it, be loudly greeted 
with the word khas h . He was one of those inoffensive, good hu¬ 
moured creatures, sometimes to be met with in the lower rank of 
people, who enliven their neighbourhood by their careless vivacity, 
tricks, and drollery; and who, without an irascible particle in their 
composition, receive composedly the cuffs, and feed upon the caresses-, 
of those whom they entertain. But, not being competent to the 
comprehension of all his drolleries, we thought his visits, at last, 
too frequent, and we fairly frightened him from our rooms, by elec¬ 
tricity. Never was a creature more astonished than when he received 
the first shock: we often gave it him afterwards by surprise, till at 
length he thought himself no where safe; and a single turn of the 
cylinder would make him run, without stopping, till he was out of 
sight. 
Our electrical apparatus proved a most fertile fund of amusement.. 
The quick and incomprehensible action of the electric fluid, produced 
frequently a very laughable spectacle, among crowds of Booteeas, 
who were attracted by curiosity to our apartments. It was ex¬ 
tremely entertaining to communicate the shock to a large circle. After 
the first impression and exclamation of astonishment, there never failed 
to ensue among them a hearty laugh; each being delighted at the 
idea of what he, supposed the other felt. By the Raja’s desire, I 
carried the apparatus repeatedly to his apartment, and he was much 
diverted with it. He would never venture to draw even a spark 
himself, but would occasionally call in parties to be electrified, and 
h Khas signifies good, excellent . 
