BOOTAN. 
175 
In the course of the morning of Tuesday, the 9th of September, our 
baggage by degrees dropped in. We had time to complete our break¬ 
fast, and see it dispatched before us; the omission of which, had occa¬ 
sioned us so much inconvenience on the preceding day. 
We had to ascend, from the hollow in which Paimaitong lay, up the 
ridge of a very lofty mountain, and at length, by many zigzag traverses, 
arrived at a little level ground, about half way up. A fence of young 
trees surrounding this space, which was paved with flat stones, formed 
a kind of alcove. We found it a very convenient place to halt at; and 
while our horses were suffered to recover the tone of their relaxed 
muscles, our Tibet friends regaled themselves with a pipe of tobacco. 
This station was called Paibesa; and hence the view of the moun¬ 
tains around us. was extremely picturesque. They appeared as if 
fashioned into hanging gardens; their sides were shelved into narrow 
beds, giving growth to different kinds of grain, in various stages of 
vegetation; hermitages, villas, and villages, were distributed up and 
down; their summits were crowned with pines, and their divisions 
gave passage to the waters of many springs, which, meeting at their 
bases, rolled in.rapid torrents. 
Having remounted our horses, they scrambled with us over a firm 
clayey road, tolerably straight but steep, of a great width, and bordered 
on both sides with handsome firs. The mountain was covered all the 
way, w r ith the most perfect verdure. Four hours were employed in 
reaching its summit, upon the very highest point of which stood a build¬ 
ing, square on one side, but semicircular on the other. They called it a 
castle, and it is known by the name of Dalai-jeung. We were received 
