beech, birch, oeaplé, pinerfir, yew,and cypressywere among the »amber ;
we saw also by the road side, with no small satisfaction, bushes loaded
with ripe blackberries. Insignificant. ;as this fruit isj ÿet, recalling
domestic partialities to, the imagination, and the image of those scènes
which youth and health formerly endeared, we plucked and ate them
with avidity. A cold philosopher might have contemptuously passed
by such trivial trash ; but he Would not have formed any conception
of the luxurious treat Which we enjoyed. _
. About noon, we emerged from these dark woods, and came at once
upon-a clear level ground, where we found a feW of the Raja’s Servants
in low sheds, which they had formed of boughs, sitting about a
fire of dried-fir leaves. We alighted from our horses, and were admitted
of. their party. Drenched as our clothes were with rah», 'the:
warmth of the fire, and the hot tea which their hospitality prepared
for us, enabled us to pursue our way with additional spirit. Their
preparation' of tea with butter, salt, and flour, the leaf being boiled
till it is tender, and all the ingredients intimately blended together,
was a regale, from which at first our tastes revolted with disgust ; but
so early a reconciliation, placed in the strongset point Of view, the
force of habit, both in creating and effacing prejudices ; and, strange
as it may appear, convinced me, that this kind of tea-gruel, wants
Only the recommendation of custom, to be esteemed a luxury.
At a short distancé fro® ’this place, we passed by a village of considerable
extent, situated, où the side of a.hill, which was almost wholly
cultivated. The country now began to open, and improve on our view.
Proceeding onwards we forded a stream, not deep, but r tinning With
stioh im'petuos'fty' OVer uneven ffOcl&j 'that-' our horses with daffimifiy
kept their legs. O n s i d e , Stood* a- solitary hewe,. wtate
we halted'for awhile, -and'weVe furnished'with fresh hprses -to- .contimue
oar joilihey.»
From hence a firm road focf US1'along the sides of the-MSs,1 which
Were covered'- all .'Over with an equal verdure. A few handsome firs
were distributed about, both1 single» antfcin: dusters, at £s®Bih, regular
intermediate distances,^as’toriaidu^-a? belief’that >fiheyi>f®wed their dis-
position rather to the? hand of art thau’ichahoe. ■ uFhe road, .as we asd-
vanced, evidently, improved ; it was composed' yf^grated,, perfectly
even, hdt fehst than eight tit tent fodt wide, and of am-easy, ussgflfty **>i
The weather had now 'cleared up, and' tte fate df narimre had received
much embellishment from the late fall ofiatm The mountains
heavirigifliteif swelling; ridges, decked with a rich verdant robe^into a
bright blue sky, skirted too with luxuriant groves and Intersecting
streams, which van winding alongUbeir bases’, displayed' ,a: ffegBjaauyp
and softness of feature, that is selddjt seen id the wild but sublime
scenery of Bootan.
We met on this read, one of the Dacb >Raja’s brothers,; a i-Gyfong,
riding on a Tangun terse, fie was preceded by many attendants, and
among them was a man who played upon a sort of hautboy, or reed
instrument, which he blew, from the mwmenf we came in Sightjrill-'we
had passed beyond -'»he reach of .the sound, with a strong and conti.
nued blast. Every man of rank, -who moves from 'home upon occasions
of ceremony,, is'„attended by .a, person of this (jescriptfon^^hq, |
am assured, blows his, instrument from the time the phief mounts his