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chap, xiv BHUTAN
201
which
I have made in my journeys regarding kingdoms which lie to the
north-east of the territories of the Great Mogul, as those of Bhutan,
Tippera, Assam, and Siam, of which I believe that we Europeans have not
much knowledge ; and I would also speak of the Kingdom of Tonquin,1 if I did not know that two different authors have filled two volumes with it.
CHAPTER XV
Concerning the Kingdom of Bhutan, whence comes musk, good rhubarb, and some furs.
The Kingdom of Bhutan is of very wide extent, but we have not been able to acquire an exact knowledge of it as yet.2
This is what I have ascertained during several journeys in India, from
people of the country who come from there to trade ; but I was better
informed regarding it on the last occasion than I had been previously,
as I was at Patna, the largest town in Bengal and the most famous for
trade—at the time that the merchants of Bhutan arrive to sell their
musk. During the two months I spent there I bought to the extent of
26,000 rupees worth of musk, an once (Fr.) in the capsule costing me 4
livres and 4 sols of our money, and out of the capsule at the rate of 8
francs,3 and were it not for the custom duties which have to
be paid in India, as well as in Europe, there would be a great profit
to be made on it. The best kind of rhubarb 4 also comes from the Kingdom of Bhutan ; the same country produces also the seed which yields worm powder,6 and other kinds of drugs, and from
1
.In his third volume Tavernier gives an account of Tonquin, or Tunquin
as he calls it. In the opinion of some critics it is very inaccurate.
See S. Baron, A Description of the Kingdom of Tonqueen, in J. Pinkerton, A General Collection of Voyages and Travels, ix. 656 ft, who criticizes some of Tavernier's statements.
* For a full account of Bhutan see Imperial Gazetteer, viii. 154. The name is derived from Sanskrit Bhotanta, ' the end of Bhot or Bod'. Tibet (L. A. Waddell, Buddhism of Tibet, 44).
5
See vol. ii. 115 for another account of this purchase, and a comparison
showing the discrepancy. Here for francs we should probably read livres.
• See p. 203 post.
' This is probably a species of Artemisia—A. maritima (Watt,
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