SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
not prevent them making a hearty meal and taking away with them the wine they were unable to drink, after their departure the air thermometer of my boiling-point apparatus could not be found, which was annoying, as it left me without a second instrument to verify my readings. During lunch the band of the escort and the gramophone provided music for our guests’ entertainment.
The next day we determined to visit Dug-gye-jong, and although it was cloudy we had a very pleasant ride up the valley over a road ascending very gradually, though in many places we found the soling of large stones very troublesome both for riding and walking. At Long-gong, about five miles from Paro, there is a pretty village and orchard of walnut-trees, where the Thumba or headman of that part of the valley lives, and on the cliffs opposite, to the east, is the more than usually inaccessible monastery of Paro-ta-tshang. We also saw in the distance the monastery of Sang-chen-cho-khor, from which the present Deb Raja came. At the end of nine miles we rode up to the fort of Dug-gye, also built in the days of the first Shabdung in commemoration of a victory over the Tibetans.
I cannot describe it better than Captain Turner does; the scene does not seem to have altered in the least. “We entered Dug-gye-jong, a fortress built upon the crown of a low, rocky hill, which it entirely occupies, conforming itself to the shape of the summit, the slope all round beginning from the foundation of its walls.
“The approach to the only entrance is defended by three round towers, placed between the castle and the foot of the hill, and connected together by a double wall, so that a safe communication between them is preserved even in times of the greatest peril. Around each of these towers, near the top, a broad ledge projects, the edges of which are fortified by a mud wall, with loopholes adapted to the use of the bow and arrow or of muskets. On the north of the castle are two round towers that command the road from Tibet. On the east side the rock is rough and steep; and
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