MY FIRST MISSION TO BHUTAN
north-east corner are rooms for distinguished guests, and there is also a guardhouse in the parade-ground beyond the drawbridge. The fort and its surroundings have been described by both Turner and Eden, from whom I give the following extracts.
Turner writes:
“The castle, or palace of Paro, known also by the appellation of Paro Jong, and Rinjipo, is constructed, and the surrounding ground laid out, more with a view to strength and defence than any place I have seen in Bootan. It stands near the base of a very high mountain; its foundation does not decline with the slope of the rock, but the space it occupies is fashioned to receive it horizontally. Its form is an oblong square; the outer walls of the four angles, near the top of them, sustain a range of projecting balconies, at nearly equal intermediate distances, which are covered by the fir eaves that project, as usual, high above and beyond the walls, and are fenced with parapets of mud. There is but one entrance into the castle, which is in the eastern front, over a wooden bridge, so constructed as to be with great facility removed, leaving a deep and wide space between the gateway and the rock.
“Opposed to the front are seen, upon the side of the mountains, three other buildings, designed as outposts, placed in a triangular position. The outer one is most distant from the palace, and about a double bowshot from those on either side, as you look up at them. The outer building and that on the left defend the road to Tassisudon, which runs between them; that on the right the road from Buxadewar and passage across the bridge. On the side next the river, from the foundation of the castle, the rock is perpendicular, and the river running at its base renders it inaccessible. The bridge over the Patchieu, which is at no great distance, is covered in the same manner as those at Tassisudon and Punakha, and has two spacious gateways.”
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