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

40 B O O T A NStill stronger by the aid oF art, whicli has been most ingeniously employedto strike off the summit of the hill, and to level an extensivespace, capable of aflording accommodation to a body of men, suHicientlynumerous for the defence of this difficult pass, against all assault.A range of temporary sheds, thrown back to some distance from theedge of the eminence, are designed to shelter a garrison that may bestationed to defend it.A deep ravine divides tliis from the opposite hill,.which is steep, and has a narrow road formed on its side, not capable ofadmitting the passage of two persons abreast. It winds in a semicircularform, round the jutting eminence immediately opposed to it,which stands high above, and within reach of their common arms, thebow and arrow, for a great distance ; till the road is at length connectedwith, and leads to, Buxadewar, by a very steep ascent. Suchis the nature of this pass, which, however it may have been strengthenedand improved by artjdoes real honour to the judgment of thosewho originally selected itas a post of defence.The village (for itdeserves no better name) consists often or twelvehouses, invisible till the very moment of approach ; it is placed upona second table of levelled rock, which has httle soil upon it, yet iscovered Avith verdure, in consequence of its very sheltered situation,being surrounded on three sides by lofty mountains, and open only tothe south, which afrbrds a narrow prospect of Bengal.Buxadewar, asit is termed by the people in the low lauds, derives its name from avery whimsical circumstance. It was formerly a custom with theBootan horse-dealers, before they quitted this pass of the mountains,and descended with their caravan into the low lands, to cut off the