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

;BOOTAN. 181corn, and their skill well deserved our attention. They confrontedeach other, three in a row ;and the corn was strewed between themand they thumped it, wielding their flails (two stout staves, joinedtogether by a flexible thong) with such dexterity, that though perhapsnot a blade escaped unstruck, yet they never once entangled, norclashed in the operation.We were kept by many impediments at Paro till near noon ; when,quitting our quarters, we descended the stone slope, and turning tothe right,crossed the bridge below the palace, and proceeded up thevalley, not far fiom the banks of the Patchieu. We passed throughthe market-place, as the peasants were beginning to assemble ;none ofthem left their pursuits to follow us ; and the boys that were playingabout looked at us only for a moment, with an appearance of surprise,but without any sort of rustic rudeness. I'wo Booteeas would havepassed through few English towns, so peaceably.The Zeenkaubj whom the Daeb had appointed to attend me toTibet, invited us to deviate a little from the high road, and we allfollowedhim till we came to some carpets laid upon the ground, beneathja bower, formed with branches of the willow tree, where we wereJ''"M^entreated to alight.Benches were immediately placed before us, andalmost as instantaneously covered with a variety of fruits, parchedrice, kc. and we were plentifully supplied with buttered tea andwhisky. Our guide was himself active, in waiting upon us, and consideredour acceptance of his invitation to halt,as a peculiar compliment.A village in the vicinity was, I learnt, the place of his birth,as well as the present residence of his family.-Some of them came,