TIBET. 
415 
him the instrument with which it was done. He very earnestly ex¬ 
pressed a desire that I should perform the operation, and wished much 
for a proper subject; such a one did not occur while I remained; and 
perhaps it was as well, both for the Rajah’s patients and my own 
credit; for after having seen it once done, he would not have hesi¬ 
tated about a repetition of the operation. Gravelish complaints, and 
the* stone in the bladder are, I believe, diseases unknown here. 
The small-pox, when it appears among them, is a disease that 
strikes them with too much terror and consternation, to admit of their 
treating it properly. Their attention is not employed in saving the 
lives of the infected, but in preserving themselves from the disease. 
All communication with the infected is strictly forbidden, even at the 
risk of their being starved; and the house, or village, is afterwards 
erased. A promiscuous and free intercourse, with their neighbours, 
not being allowed, the disease is very seldom to be met with, and its 
progress always checked, by the vigilance and terror of the natives. 
Few in the country have had the disease. Inoculation, if ever intro¬ 
duced, must be very general, to prevent the devastation that would be 
made by the infection in the natural way; and where there could not 
be any choice in the subject fit to receive the disease, many must 
fall a sacrifice to it. The, present Rajah of Thibet was inoculated, with 
some of his followers, when in China with the late Tishoo Lama. 
The hot bath is used in many disorders, particularly in complaints 
of the bowels, and cutaneous eruptions. The hot wells of Thibet are 
resorted to by thousands. In Boutan, they substitute water warmed 
by hot stones thrown into it. 
