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

BOOTAN. 61expected in a favourable soil. There are wooden bridges across theriver at Choomboo, Sese, and other places tliat we passed. We sawthe Patchieu, as itcomes round the mountains to the north-west, forminga junction with theTehintchieu, which runs on to receive the riverHatchieu, near Kepta. As we approached Nomnoo, tlie husbandmenwere busied in the fields ; the reapers were cutting down thecorn with sickles, which others collected in handfuls, and bound upwith a wisp of straw : we saw also oxen yoked in a plough, whichwas guided by a boy at the plough tail. We came early to Nomnoo,and were lodged in a large apartment in a spacious house, the walls ofwhich were black from the smoke of a fire, which in the winter theycommonly burn upon a large flat stone, in the middle of the room ;thecommodioiisness of a chimney being here unknown.I visited an orchard in the neighbourhood, and found it well storedwiih walnut, apple, peach, pear, apricot, and barberry trees.Two Poes'^ had arrived on the preceding day at Pauga:they weresent by the commandant of the garrison of Tassisudon, to procure forus whatever we might want, as the chief of Nomnoo was absent I'romhis station.The next morning they set oft' early, to advise their masterof oiir approach.From Nomnoo, on Saturday the 31st of May, we still travelled nearthe banks of the river, and left Jeemi Jumboo, a handsome village inthe valley, on our left, as we advanced to Wangoka, distant fromNomnoo near ten miles.'Inferior officers in the service of government, employed occasionally both in a civil2nd military capacity.