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

;'BOOTAN. 143The obliging and attentive assiduity of the good man who livedhere, and his soHcitude to shew us every part of his extensive charge,drew us inadvertently to loiter away more time than in prudence weought to have done ;and, though night was coming on apace, we couldnot part tillhe had carried us into a detached garden, abounding withorange and other trees, and on the borders of which was a large pondcovered with the lotus [nijmpluea nilolica) in full bloom ; a flower forawhich the inhabitants have a religious esteem, and which they oftenplace before their idols, deeming it to be peculiarly acceptable to them.It isheld in the same religious estimation in India, as it was in Egyptand serves, among other evidences, to point out a remote connectionbetween the people of Egypt and India, and the religions of both.It was long dark, before we reached our own habitation ;and, thoughno visible danger obstructed our way, yet it was not unfrequentlynecessary, to appease the Dewtas [g^eiiii loci) at several stages, with lthe occasional offering of a few narrainees; nor was Iinattentive to theadvice of our guide, notwitlistanding that I believed him to have nosmall interest in these oblations.The nanainee is a base silver coin, struck in Cooch Bahar, of thevalue of about ten-pence, or one third of a Sicca rupee.The commodiousnessof this small piece, the profits the people of Bootan derive \\from their commerce with Cooch Bahar, and some local prejudices'against the establishment of a mint, have given the nanainee intheseregions, as well as in those where it is struck, a common currency,though both countries are perfectly independent of each other, and~totally different in their language and manner.The name of the coin is