TIBET. 
243 
those cramps and rheumatic pains, with which they are so frequently 
and so severely afflicted. 
After taking leave of the Regent, it was my intention to have paid 
a visit to Soopoon Choomboo; but our audience had been protracted 
to a great length, and we had no sooner risen, than all the bells of the 
monastery struck up, as a summons to devotion. The present occasion, 
the removal of the Lama, called for an extraordinary attendance on the 
exercises of religion; and all the Gy longs, we were told, applied them¬ 
selves at this time, with redoubled fervor to the duty of prayer. Not 
long after we had returned to our apartments, I was disturbed on a 
sudden, by so confused and tumultuous a noise, that I was utterly at 
a loss to what cause, to attribute this alarming uproar. At length, I was 
informed by my attendants, the Goseins, that it was only the Gylongs 
at their pooja , or religious exercises, and I could not possibly refuse, 
to give them ample credit for their zeal. 
The following day I received an invitation from Soopoon Choomboo, 
and we immediately prepared to wait upon him in his apartments, 
which, though remote from ours, yet form a part of that large assem¬ 
blage of rooms, which all together constitute the palace, and accommo¬ 
date all the officers of the court. In going to them, it was unnecessary 
to pass along the open street; for, by descending some stairs, ascending 
others, and traversing several halls and passages, we came at length to 
the division of the palace, which he occupied. The room in which we 
found him, was rather narrow, being long and lofty, in comparison of 
its width; but the advantage of its situation, amply counterbalanced 
every defect in point of symmetry and proportion. It commanded an 
I i 
