SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
Eden writes:
“The fort of Paro is a very striking building, and far surpassed the expectations we had formed from anything we had heard of Bootian architecture. It is a large, rectangular building, surrounding a hollow square, in the centre of which is a large tower of some seven stories, surmounted by a large copper cupola. The outer building has five stories, three of which are habitable, the two lower stories being used as granaries and stores and are lighted with small loopholes, while the upper stories are lighted with large windows opening in most cases on to comfortable verandahs. The entrance to the fort is on the left side, by a little bridge over a narrow ditch; the gateway is handsome, and the building above is much higher than the rest of the outer square; it is ornamented and painted, and has a number of well-executed inscriptions engraved in stone and iron, some of them gilt. At the gateway are a row of cages in which are kept four enormous Thibetan mastives. These beautiful animals are very ferocious; they are never taken out of their cages; they are said, however, to be less dangerous than they otherwise would be from their overlapping jowls, which prevent their using their teeth as freely as ordinary dogs. The first thing which catches the eye on entering the fort is a huge praying cylinder, some ten feet high, turned by a crank; a catch is so arranged that at each turn a bell is rung. The gate of the fort is lined with light iron plates. On entering the fort you are surprised to find yourself at once in the third story, for the fort is built on a rock which is overlapped by the lower stories and forms the ground base of the courtyard and centre towers. . . . After passing through a dark passage which turns first to the left and then to the right, a large well-paved and scrupulously clean courtyard is reached; the fine set of rooms on the left is devoted nominally to the relations of the ladies of the palace, in reality, I believe, to the ladies themselves, who, however, are supposed to live outside the fort, in accordance with the
126
