BOOTAN. 
389 
species of the Gloriosa. The plantains in use below, do not thrive 
here. In the jungles they have a plantain tree, producing a very broad 
leaf, with which they cover their huts; but the fruit is not eaten. See 
many weeds and long grass, more common to Bengal than any other 
parts of Boutan. 
From the 15th to the 23d, the rains were almost incessant at Bux- 
aduar. Our people became unhealthy, and were attacked with fevers, 
which, if neglected in the beginning, proved obstinate quartans. This 
was the case with several of the natives, whom I had an opportunity 
of seeing. They scarcely, however, admit that Buxaduar is unhealthy 
at any season of the year. After allowing for their prejudice, and the 
possibility of the natives suffering but little from the bad seasons, 1 
cannot help thinking that Buxaduar must be unhealthy, at least to 
strangers, from the month of May till towards the end of September, 
it lies high, but is overtopped by the surrounding mountains, covered 
with forests of trees, and underwood. In all climates, where the influ¬ 
ence of the sun is great, this is a never-failing cause of bad air. The 
exhalation that takes place from so great a surface in the day time, 
falls, after sunset, in the form of dew, rendering the air raw, damp, 
and chilly, even in the most sultry climates. 
The thermometer at Buxaduar was never, at two o’clock in the 
afternoon, above 82,°, or below 73°. 
In the neighbourhood of Buxaduar, there are several excellent 
springs of water, some of them with less impregnation of any sort than 
I ever met with; the nicest test, scarcely produced the separation of 
a sensible quantity of earthy matter. Such waters are generally to be 
