Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/650

632 of the roots and branches were examined by Turner during his journey to Thibet; but the plant being neither _ in blossom nor bearing fruit, it was impossible to decide whether it was the true cinnamon or an inferior kind of cassia. The leaf, however, corresponded with the descrip tion given of the true cinnamon by Linnaeus. The lower ranges of the hills abound in animal life. Elephants are so numerous as to be dangerous to travellers ; but tigers are not common, except near the River Tistd. Leopards abound in the Hah valley; deer everywhere, some of them of a very large species. The musk deer is found in the snows, and the barking deer on every hill side. Wild hogs are met with even at great elevations. Large squirrels are common. Bears and rhinoceros are also found. Pheas ants, jungle fowls, pigeons, and other small game abound. The Bhutids are no sportsmen. They have a superstitious objection to firing a gun, thinking that it offends the deities of the woods and valleys, and brings down rain. A species of horse, which seems indigenous to Bhutan, and is used as a domestic animal, is called tdngan, from Tdngastdn, the general appellation of that assemblage of mountains which constitutes the territor}* of Bhutdn. It is peculiar to this tract, not being found in any of the neigh bouring countries of Assam, Nepal, Thibet, or Bengal, and unites in an eminent degree the two qualities of strength and beauty. The tdngan horse usually stands about thirteen hands high, is short bodied, clean-limbed, deep in the chest, and extremely active, his colour usually inclining to piebald. In so barren and rude a country the manufac turing industry of its people is, as might be expected, in a low stage, the few articles produced being all destined for home consumption. These consist of coarse blankets and cotton cloths made by the villagers inhabiting the southern tract. Leather, from the hide of the buffalo, imperfectly tanned, furnishes the soles of snow boots. Circular bowls are neatly turned from various woods. A small quantity of paper is made from a plant described as the Daphne papyri/era. Swords, iron spears, and arrow-heads, and a few copper caldrons fabricated from the metal obtained in the country, complete the list of manufactures. The foreign trade of Bhutan has greatly declined. In 1809 the trade between Assam and Bhutdn amounted to 20,000 per annum, the lac, madder, silk, erendi cloth, and dried fish of Assam, being exchanged for the woollens, gold-dust, salt, musk, horses, and silk of BhutAn. At present very little trade is carried on by Bhutan with the neighbouring countries. The military resources of the country are on an insignificant scale. Beyond the guards for the defence of the various castles, there is nothing like a standing army. The total military force was estimated by the British envoy in 1864 at 6000. The climate of Bhutdn varies according to the difference of elevation. At the time when the inhabitants of Pundkhd (the winter resi dence of the Rajas) are afraid of exposing themselves to the blazing sun, those of Ghdsd experience all the rigour of winter, and are chilled by perpetual snows. Yet these places are within sight of each other. The rains descend in floods upon the heights ; but in the vicinity of Tasi- sudon, the capital, they are moderate ; there are frequent showers, but nothing that can be compared to the tropical rains of Bengal. Owing to the great elevation and steep ness of the mountains, dreadful storms arise among the hollows, often attended with fatal results.

History.—Bhutan formerly belonged to a tribe called by the Bhutias Tephu, generally believed to have been the people of Kuch Behar. About two hundred years ago some Thibetan soldiers subjugated the Tephus, took pos session of the country, and settled down in it. At the head of the Bhutan government there are nominally two supreme authorities, the Dharm Raja, the spiritual head, and the Deb Raja, the temporal ruler. To aid tliesa Rajas in administering the country, there is a council of permanent ministers, called the Lenehen. Practically, however, there is no government all. Subordinate officers and rapacious governors of forts wield all the power of the state, and tyranny, oppression, and anarchy reign over the whole country. The Dharm Raja succeeds as an incarnation of the deity. On the death of a Dharm Raja a year or two elapses, and the new incarnation then re appears in the shape of a child who generally happens to be born in the family of a principal officer. The child establishes his identity by recognizing the cooking utensils, &c., of the late Dharm Raja ; he is then trained in a monastery, and on attaining his majority is recognized as Raja, though he exercises no more real authority in his majority than he did in his infancy. The Deb Raja is in theory elected by the council. In practice he is merely the nominee of whichever of the two governors of East and West Bhutdn happens for the time to be the more powerful. The relations of the British with Bhutan com menced in 1772, when the Bhutias invaded the principality of Kuch Behar, a dependency of Bengal. The Kuch Behar Raja applied for aid, and a force under Captain James was despatched to his assistance ; the invaders were ex pelled and pursued into their own territories. Upon the intercession of Teshu Lama, then regent of Thibet, a treaty of peace was concluded in 1774 between the East India Company and the ruler of Bhutan. In 1783 Captain Turner was deputed to Bhutdn, with a view of promoting commercial intercourse, but his mission proved unsuccess ful. From this period little intercourse took place with Bhutdn, until the occupation of Assam by the British in 1826. It was then discovered that the Bhutids had usurped several tracts of low land lying at the foot of the mountains, called the Dwdrs or passes, and for these they agreed to pay a small tribute. They failed to do so, how ever, and availed themselves of the command of the passes to commit depredations within the British territory. Cap tain Pemberton was accordingly deputed to Bhutdn to adjust the points of difference. But his negotiations yielded no definite result; and every other means of obtaining redress and security proving unsuccessful, the Assam Dwdrs were wrested from the Bhutids, and the British Government consented to pay to Bhutdn a sum of 1000 per annum as compensation for the resumption of their tenure, during the good behaviour of the Bhutids. Con tinued outrages and aggressions were, however, committed by the Bhutias on British subjects in the Dwdrs. Not withstanding repeated remonstrances and threats, scarcely a year passed without the occurrence of several raids in British territory headed by Bhutid officials, in which they plundered the inhabitants, massacred them, or carried them away as slaves. In 1863 Mr Ashley Eden was sent as an envoy to Bhutdn to demand reparation for these outrages. He did not succeed in his mission ; he was subjected to the grossest insults ; and under compulsion signed a treaty giving over the disputed territory to Bhutan, and making other concessions which the Bhutdn Government demanded. On Mr Eden s return the viceroy at once disavowed his treaty, sternly stopped the former allow ance for the Assam Dwdrs, and demanded the immedi ate restoration of all British subjects kidnapped during the last five years. The Bhutids not complying with this demand, the Governor-General issued a proclamation, dated the 12th November 1864, by which the eleven Western or Bengal Dwdrs were forthwith incorporated with the Queen s Indian dominions. No resistance was at first offered to the annexation ; but, suddenly, in January 1865, the Bhutias surprised the English gar rison at Diwdngiri, and the post was abandoned with 