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

38 BOO TAN.( I received a letter on Monday the 19th of May, from tlie Daeb, to/I/ signify his having given particular injunctions to ail his officers, at thedifferent stations, that they should exert their utmost efforts to forward( me with all possible convenience and dispatch; intimating at the same'timethat I must expect much difficulty and hardship from the badnessof the road, which I might also learn from Poorungheer*^.As the Daeb Raja had sent no people for our accommodation, theSoobah proposed the expedient of dispatching thirty men, with partof our baggage, the same day, to Murichom ; upon their return, hepromised to be able to provide for our immediate departure, and I veryeagerly accepted his proposal.The Soobah dined with us, and partook very heartily of our meal.He drank but little, although he seemed to relish our wine ; but Iunderstood that his countrymen considered him as particularly abstemious.His inclination seemed principally directed to trials of skill.After dinner he invited us to fire at a mark ; and as both himself andhis people seemed to have been much practised in thisdiversion, our' ! A Hindoo Gosein, a kind of religious hermit, or pilgrim, who formerly accompaniedMr. Bogle to Tibet, and who now attended me on my journey.Motives of religious duty, which, among the order of Goseins more especially,attaches peculiar respect to every kind and degree of penance, having occasionally ledPoorungheer among the different tribes of Tartars, he had acquired, during his residenceamongst them, a very competent knowledge of their manners, and of their language,•which he spoke with apparent ease ; and by the exemplary regularity of conduct he haduniformly preserved in his intercourse with the inhabitants of these regions, I foundthat he had strongly recommended himself to their notice, and obtained the favour of alltheir chiefs.