courage had been equal to his size, to fight a lion. He kept me at bay
With a most clamorous bark, and 1 was a good deal startled at first; but
recollecting their cowardly disposition, I stood still ;, for having once
had ob&dn my possession; T kneW that they were fierce only, when
they perceived themselves feared. If I had attempted to run, he pro*
bably would have flown upon mer and tom me in pieces, before any
one -could have come to my rescue. Some person came out of the
house, and he was soon silenced.
If Boetan, compared with Bengal; exhibits a vast-contrast of country
and climate, there is no nearer analogy between Tibet and Bootan.
Bootan presents to the view, nothing but the most mishapen irregtt^
lairittes? mountains covered with'eternal verdure, and rich with abua*
dant forests of large and lofty- trees: Almost every favourable aspect of
them, coated with the smallest quantity of soil, is cleared and adapted
to cultivation, by being-shelved into horizontal beds: not a slope or
narrow slip of'land between' the ridges, lies unimproved. There is
scarcely a mountain, whose base is not washed by some rapid torrent,
and many of the loftiest, bear populous villages, amidst- orchards, and
other plantations, on their summits and on their sides. It combines
in its extent, the most extravagant traits of rude nature and laborious
art.
Tibet, on the other hand, strikes a traveller,' at first sight, as one
of the least favoured countries under heaven, and Appears to be in
a great measure incapable' of culture. It exhibits only low rocky
hills, without any visible vegetation, or extensive arid plains, both
of the most stem and stubborn aspect, promising full as little as they
produce. If& climate iS cold and bleak in-the f extreme;'» from the severe
Effects ‘bf-which, the inhabitants'are obliged» to seek refuge in she!-'
tered valleys, and1 hollows, or amidsh tfite Warmest aspects of the rocks.
Yet perhaps Providence, if its impartial distribution- of blessings, has
bestowed dn each country afolerably equal/Sh’M:*. The advantages (hat
in^ll^. riohnsss Qf4t^ibr^k$Ai!P$ feqits,
are amply counterbalanced in the by jits multjtudifwps flocks,
andinvahjahfeminesl A sen y seemstotpossessfhy patedpm^
table, in the’ other we find a superabjjndance- .pi’ .animal,. life. Tj'he
variety and quantity of wildtfeW'Vgam©, and beasts ofvgrey, flocks,
droves and herds, inTibetvare astonishing. In Bootan, ©iccopt. dqtncs-
tic ^matures, nothing of. the sort .is to be seep. I recqj^ct tweeting
With Ho. wild’animal
I saw? only* a few? phMftsant^, once near Chuka.