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

liOOTAN. 95ferred upon them a higher price, and a decidedpreference, with theopulent and the aged. There were also three or four fat handsomeToorkey horses, which somehow or other fell into the hands of theBooteeas, during their war with us upon their frontier. They hadbeen brought, I was informed, by the way of Dalimcotta, the safestpassage over the mountains to this place, where now it is their fate toremain prisoners in the stable, unless when taken abroad, to be loadedwith superb trappings, and to act a part in some grand procession.Near this spot, I was told, the castle of Tassisudon was formerlysituated ;but about fifteen years ago, during the inauspicious reign ofDaeb Jeeder, being consumed by fire,the royal residence was in consequenceremoved nearer the centre, being the widest part of the.valley.The low hill on which the palace,or residence, of Lam' Ghassatoostands, is upon the left, and, as long as they lasted, we were inducedto loiter away many an evening, in picking strawberries from itssides,.which were clothed with them from its foot to the very foundation ofthe palace walls.with amazement;The Gylongs used to look at us from the windowsthey, for their parts, hold this delicious little fruit incontempt, and abandon it to those, who have only to depend on thespontaneous productions of nature, for their support. The species wehere found was pointed, conical, of a small size, like the alpinestrawberry ; rather seedy, and not quite so high flavoured as thosethat grow in the woods of England.We sometimes extended our walk, by ascending a path that skirtedan adjoining mountain : it was formed by the side of an aqueduct, that