CHAPTER II.
FROM KUCH BAHAR TO TASSISUDON.[1]
The Governor having occasion to send a person[2] with some despatches to the Lama of Tibet, thought proper to pitch upon me, and I readily accepted of the commission. I was glad of the opportunity which this journey through a country hitherto unfrequented by Europeans would give me of showing my zeal for the Governor's service, at the same time that it gratified a fondness I always had for travelling, and would afford me some respite from that close and sedentary business in which I had for some years been engaged. I was to be continued in my offices at the Presidency, and allowed to act by deputy during my absence; and Mr. Hastings was also pleased to assure me that whatever might be the issue of this commission, I might depend on the continuance of his favour.
I was detained in Calcutta till the middle of May, 1774, when I set out with Mr. Hamilton, the surgeon, who was appointed to attend me. It was then the hottest season of the year; the thermometer was often above the degree of blood heat, and the sun being almost vertical, it was necessary to travel chiefly during the night time. I passed through Murshidabad and the provinces of Dinajpiir and Rangpiir, and reached Bahar, the north-east boundary of Bengal, on the last of May. As the rains were ready to set in, I stayed there only a few days; and having made the necessary preparations, I hastened to proceed on the journey.
The country about Bahar is low. Two kos[3] beyond Bahar we entered a thicket formed of reeds, brushwood, and long grass closely
