B O O T A N. 
193 
who, having laid down their loads, were sitting under cavities of the 
rock, regaling themselves with tobacco, and very sociably puffing, and 
pushing about the pipe from one to another. They were mixed socie¬ 
ties, generally consisting more of women than men; and they chatted 
together apparently in great good humour, and frequently joined in 
loud bursts of laughter. The disposition was contagious; nor could 
we view so much honest mirth without a smile. 
We rested near one of these parties : I had carried a compass in my 
hand, and set it down by me to take bearings. One of the group ad¬ 
vanced, and taking it up in his hand, viewed it with attention. I 
explained to him, as well as I could, the property of the needle; and 
he passed it to the rest of his comrades, who all considered it with the 
same expressions of surprise; it was afterwards returned very carefully 
to the place, from whence it was taken. I never beheld a more florid 
picture of health than was exhibited in the complexion of the moun¬ 
taineers we met to-day; the women in particular, with their jet black 
hair, and clear brisk, black eyes, had a ruddiness, which the most 
florid English rustic would in vain attempt to rival. 
We left on our right, a sort of rude hovel, which they called Gassa. 
It serves as a resting-place for travellers passing to and fro. Every 
species of small and larger forest tree, we had now left behind us, 
and were to look down on the lower grounds for luxuriant vegetation. 
Nothing but docks and nettles decorate the ground about Gassa. 
The bleak and lofty summits of this and the adjacent mountains, give 
growth only to short herbage, with here and there a straggling bar¬ 
berry bush. 
