BOOTAN., 
J 96 
Near our encampment, was a party of Tartar herdsmen, called 
Dukba, whose sole occupation is tending cattle, and who always live 
in tents. One of them brought me a large quantity of milk, which was 
excellent, and some very good butter. The drove of chowry tailed 
cattle, at pasture in this neighbourhood, consisted, as I understood, of 
between two and three hundred, and were the property of three fami¬ 
lies. At the time of our arrival, they were dispersed, grazing all over 
the adjacent mountains; but towards the evening, the proprietors col¬ 
lected them together, by a signal and a call; they were then all fastened 
with ropes, picketed in a double line before their tents, and guarded 
by two large Tibet dogs. I learned from one of the proprietors, that 
they had been stationary here about twelve days; that they came from 
the northward; and that, in the course of nine or ten days more, he 
intended to conduct them farther south, on account of the approach 
of winter. 
The last was a most bitterly cold night : I was almost frozen in my 
bed. It might literally have been said that we had lain in the clouds. 
They hung in the morning exceedingly low; and some of them swept 
the ground, as they passed in quick succession before a strong wind. 
Our tent, composed of a single thin canvas, without lining, was as wet 
as it was possible; and the current of cold air, that pierced through the 
damp cloth, awoke me, with the same sensation a person feels, on first 
plunging into cold water. The ground was covered with hoar frost. 
The mercury in the thermometer stood at 36°. 
