which lead up to Kalimpong; though the road had been much improved since I last went over it, it remains one of the hottest and stiffest ascents in the district. I got up about 3 p.m. and found Paul in the house which he had formerly built as his residence, but which was now turned into a dak bungalow, as there was no European officer there except the Deputy Conservator of Forests, who had charge of the very large but almost entirely unworked tract of virgin forest in British Bhutan. I rode with Paul to the bazaar, where he was received with marks of respect and pleasure by many of his old enemies, the Marwari shopkeepers. These clever traders have spread all over British Sikkim and Bhutan, and as money-lenders, cloth and grain dealers, they grew rich and prosperous. They would soon have every Bhutia and Lepcha and a good many of the Nepalese in the country in a state of virtual slavery, were they not checked in every legitimate way by the European civilians. Even as it is, many of the simple hillmen, who have no more chance in dealing with them than, a Russian peasant has with an usurer, are so much in their debt that they cannot hope to free themselves. These Marwaris are said to act as middle¬ men between the Tibetan traders and the Darjeeling merchants for whom they act as agents; and many of the Tibetans, who dislike the journey across the hot Tista valley to Darjeeling, stop to dispose of their goods and make their purchases here.
Kalimpong is now the principal place in British Bhutan, and has a police station and dispensary. When I was formerly here there were a few huts; now there is a regular bazaar on the ridge overlooking the thriving, prosperous and well-cultivated valley of the Dikchu. The immense im¬ provement which has taken place in this district, since the Bhutan war, is mainly attributable to the admirable settlement of the country which was made by Mr. Paul. This, together with a good climate and rich soil, has attracted a large number of industrious and peaceable Nepalese cultivators. These men, under the protection of our Government, have turned what sixteen years ago was a mere jungle, with only a few Bhutia and Limboo inhabitants, into one of the most thriving and best-cultivated districts I have seen in the Himalayas. Rice, both dry and irrigated, Marwa and Indian com, seem at this elevation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet to grow most luxuriantly, and the cattle are also better than in Sikkim. A small plantation of Cinchona succirubra, made as an experiment by Mr. Paul, was growing well; and Cryptomerias, ash trees and other exotics in his old garden seemed flourish¬ ing. The six elephants, which had been sent up for the embassy and which were now going back to Jelpigori, were camped just below the baazar and seemed in very good condition after the long halt; I could not help thinking how different their lot would have been if we had taken them to Tibet, where cold, starvation and work would most probably have soon killed them.
After Paul had received the salaams and offerings of his former subjects, we went on to call on the Lama of the monastery. We found him shut up in solitary confinement in a small portion of his room. He salaamed through a hole in the partition, through which he received his food, and informed us that he was spending three months in retreat, but whether the penance was voluntary, or ordered in consequence of some
