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

394 BOOTAN.cucumbers, and gourds. Near Tassesudon, the road is lined withmany different species of the rose, and a few jessamine plants. Thesoil is light, and the hills in many places barren, rocky, and with verylittle verdure. The rock in general laminated and rotten, with manysmall particles of talc in every part of the country, incorporated withthe stones and soil. Some limestone, and appearance of good chalk.Several good and pure springs of water.Tassesudon and its neighbourhood abound with all the plants wehave already mentioned. The hills are chiefly wood, with firs andaspen. I have not yet been able to find an oak tree, and the ash isseldom to be met with. The elder, holly, bramble, and dog-rose arecommon. Found the birch tree, cypress, yew, and delphinium. Manydifferent species of the vaccinium, of which the bilberry is one, andthe cranberry another. Towards the top of the adjacent mountains,met with two plants of the arbutus uva ursi, which is a native of theAlps, the most mountainous parts of Scotland, and Canada.I have likewise seen a species of the rhubarb plant (rheum undulatum)brought from a distance, and only to be met with near the summitsof hills covered with snow, and where the soil is rocky. Thetrue rhubarb (rheum palmatum) is likewise the native of a cold climate;and though China supplies us with much of this drug, it isIcnown to be the growth of its more northern provinces^ Tartary, anda part of the Russian dominions. I'he great difficulty is in drying theroot.People conversant in that business say, that one hundred poundsof fresh root, should not weigh above six pounds and a half, if properlydried, and it certainlv lias been reduced to that. I have seen eighty