An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

90 BOOTAN.Tehintchieu, ornament its border, by an easy slope of their bases to itssides ; thus forming a bank of the richest soil, which the industriousBooteca well knows how to cultivate.It was, upon our arrival, luxuriantlyclothed with themost promising crops of rice, which, in defectof rain, all the springs of the surrounding mountains, are artificiallyconducted to fertilize. There is no town, nor indeed any house, except*that which we occupied, within a mile of the palace;but a few clustersof houses, distributed in different parts among the fields, when the eyeis weary of contemplating the bold features of near and distant mountains,and scanning their wonderful combinations, serve as points ofrest, and call back the wandering mind from a rude incoherent chaos,to repose amidst the fruitful and ingenious efforts of husbandry andpopulation.The castle, or palace, of Tassisudon* stands near the centre of thevalley, and is a building of stone, of a quadrangular form. The lengthof the front, exceeds that of the sides by one-third :the walls are lofty,and as I conjecture upwards of thirty feethigh, and they are sloped alittle from the foundation to the top :above the middle space, is a row'^ of projecting balconies, to each of which are curtains made of blackhair, which are always draAvn at night : below, the walls are piercedwith very small windows, which Ijudge to be intended rather for thepurpose of admitting air, than light.There are two entrances into thepalace : the one facing the south is by a flight of wooden steps, edgedwith plates of iron, beginning on a level with the ground on the outside,and rising to the more elevated terrace within^ thewhole being'Plate VI.