chap, xv THE KING OF BHUTAN 211
he
even refused to give me a sample of his powder. But I have brought to
France two guns of nearly the same kind, one of which was made in the
island of Ceylon, and the other in Bengal.1
There
are always fifty elephants about the house of the King of Bhutan for
his guard, and twenty or twenty-five camels, which carry on the saddle
a small piece of artillery, with a ball of about half a pound in
weight. A man is seated on the crupper of the camel, as I have
elsewhere described, and he manipulates this piece as he pleases, high
or low, to the right or to the left, it being fixed on a fork attached
to the saddle.2
There
is no king in the world who is more feared and more respected by his
subjects than the King of Bhutan, and he is even worshipped by them.
When on the seat of justice or when he gives an audience, all those who
present themselves before him raise their joined hands to their
foreheads, and at some distance from the throne, prostrate themselves
to the ground without daring to raise the head. In this humble posture
they make their supplications to the King, and when they withdraw they
walk backwards till they are out of his presence. The Brahmans make
these poor people believe that the King is a god upon earth, and
principally those who come from the north.3 . . . [Passage not translated.]
The
people of Bhutan are robust men and of fine stature, but have somewhat
flat faces and noses. I am informed that the women are taller and more
vigorous than the men, but that they are more subject than them to
goitre, from
1 This is the bell-mouthed blunderbuss, not uncommon, sometimes called Sherbachha, ' tiger-cub '. (Hon. W. Egerton, Illustrated HandÂbook of Indian Arms, 142.)
2 Known as Zamburak, ' little wasp', Shuturnal, ' camel-gun', Shahin, ' falcon ' (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 135 f. ; Bernier, 217).
3
It seems probable that this so-called King of Bhutan, who was described
to Tavernier, was really the Grand Lama of Tibet, and this is the more
likely from the statement as to his sanctity in the passage which is
not reproduced, being unsuitable for publication. The armaments and
elephants mentioned above seem, however, to be scarcely compatible with
the surroundings of the Grand Lama. On this use of stercus humanum see
Manucci, ii. 440, iv. 438 ; Dubois, 594.
P 2
