intense. Though we kept a good fife burning all night, sufficient to line
the upper surfaofe of the tent, which was closed on all sides* with a thick
cloud of smoke, yet all was insufficient to mitigate the severity of the'
frost; our breath congealed upon our whiskers, and it cost us some
considerable time and pain to clear them of icicles.
It was our first care in the morning, to defend ourselves with our
warmest clothing; and indeed our thickest garments were ïiö more
than necessary, .to guard against the keen severity of the atmosphere.
Yet here we saw multitudes of the valuablejnimal, whose coat affords
materials for that exquisitely fine and beautiful manufacture* thé shawl.
They were feeding in large flocks, upon the thin dry herbage that cover's
these naked-looking hills. This is, perhaps, the most beautiful spééiëS
amongst the whole tribe of goats; more so, in ray hpiftpif than the
Angola kind. Their colours were various; black, white, of a? faint
bluish tinge, and of a shade something lighter than a fawn. They have
straight horns, and are of a lower stature than the smallest sMeep’in
England. The material used for the manufacture of shawls, i»'of%
light fine texture, and clothes the animal next the' skin. A coarse
covering of long hair grows above this, and preserves the softness 'of
the inferior coat. This creature seems indebted, for the warmth
and softness of its coat, to the nature of the climate it inhabits:
upon removing some of them to the hot atmosphere of Bengal, they
quickly lost their beautiful clothing, and a cutaneous eruptive humour
soon destroyed almost all their coat. I was also unsuccessful in repeated
trials, to convey this animal to England. It would neither
endure the climate of Bengal, nor bear the sea: though some few of
T I;B p T; 55$
them, hjdeed, livedjto land in,,England, ye.t, they were in so weak a
state,-that they yerwshortly.after perished.
. We passed the summit of &(mgpnang,,,,|hat' lqfty -range cj£ moj|ii^
tains whi,ch forma thq boundary of Tibet on th^qutl^
from Bootan, and hastened with *pur utmo^speedjto reach jt^ndlder
region;.,'..-,.
This we "found .at Puqukka, thawmtef jceadènré j?f,the iDaeb^Raja,
yrho rec,ek«Lusk.with every mark Çgmp
pared with .the .knd, w e had .(eft, w<:_ now'behjJhlrdii^ Lam!
RiprboCjh^y. in high beautyaadoi^qd^ith gif^cs^cioiv^dedj with rich
loads. qÇ thé finest,oranges, citrons* a^ppmegrapates^hs-piango.apd
thepeach had parted with their produce, hut '^jdsyo^ apples'ajid
of walnutss were ppened for pu,! gra^fiçiatipn1;.,.ap^ïihjs,vasfc profusion
of ripe fruit, added to the temperature of th^ajr;, mp^g^qfqPy^Qp-
vinced us of the prodigious disparity:of^çlhqa^ei,wlthifl^M’short 'a
distance.
WÊÊ ihéJD.aeb Raja, a^ljk^lYQuriteip^la^^^Pun^khÉa
was not of long durajiqn. I hastened tqpiake^all t^ej ^ W ernents^th^
appeared necessary, qr expedient^ with jeg^rd. to the ^bjuqt ^ol my
mission. The Raja gave me frequent pppprtuqi^espf;pteetin,g l^Ufe^s
well within doom, as. by invita$m^£ walk with* hinp in th o ^ g p ^ ^
Indeed I was treated by him with the .greatestfreedom.and couliality.
He urged me strongly to pass a longtime with; him, ^tolling the
beauty of the place, and the mild température of the Weatherbut I
was obliged to decline the honour*
On the 30th of December I had my audienqe^df leave, and received,