Page:Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet.djvu/195

Ch. II] and to build houses with thick stone walls, to secure themselves from the cold. The one cannot endure heat, the other cannot suffer cold; and so these mountains are set up as a screen between them. They shelter Bengal from the northerly winds which blow over Tatary, all the way from Novaya Zemlya, and give them moderate winters; and they serve to keep off the hot southerly monsoon from the Bhutanese, and preserve them cool when the sun is within six degrees of them. The climate accordingly changes in the most rapid manner, and Muri-jong, which is not above two days' journey from the entrance into the hills, produces apricots, peaches, apples, pears, mulberries, and even oaks. But I am getting into the clouds.

At the place where the road crosses the mountain, standards or banners are set up, of white cloth, with sentences written upon them. They denote something religious, and are common at the tops of hills. The prospect within the hills is confined—not above 25 miles; country all equally clad with wood. There were not above six or eight villages to be seen on the brow of the mountain, with little patches of wheat, barley, or Indian corn; the road all down hill. We went down much against the grain, for we must climb it all up again; first place we came to Jaigugu.

Only three birdcage houses, and two Nepal dogs. I planted ten potatoes. Through these hills, and about a mile below Jaigugu, runs Pachu-Chinchu to the south-east. From all the laws of hydrostatics it seems a plain deduction that a more level road might be made by following the course of this river than by going over the mountains. If the last is done to render the entrance into the country difficult it is very politic. A branch of this river was near us all the way to Tassisudon: it runs so fast, and dashes so over stones, that it is half a cascade. The road to Muri-jong consists of steep descents and ascents the whole way; a few distant villages. There had been a heavy shower of rain. Three or four fine waterfalls were passed; one fell perpendicular about 40 feet from the top of a rock; another a stream foaming and