BRITISH MISSIONS TO BHUTAN
were few mechanics, and hardly any distinction of profession. Every family was acquainted with the most useful arts, and contained within itself almost all the necessaries of life. Even clothes, a considerable article in so rude a climate, were generally the produce of the husbandman’s industry. He bartered the fruits of his industry in Tibet for wool, which was spun, dyed, and woven by the females of the family, and what remained was taken to Rangpur and exchanged for hogs, salt fish, coarse linen, dyes, spices, and broadcloth. This class “live at home, cultivate their lands, pay taxes, serve in the wars, and beget children, who succeed to honours to which they themselves could never aspire.”
The regular army consisted of six hundred men in pay, but all lands in Bhutan were held by military service, and every man in the country was a soldier when called upon. The taxes were moderate in themselves, and rendered still less oppressive by the simple manner of collecting them. Every family, according to its substance, was rated at a particular sum, which was often received in produce, and thus the country was unencumbered with any heavy expense for tax-gatherers. At the same time Bogle mentions the significant fact that the officers of Government received no salaries. The expenses of government, therefore, were small, and the principal drains on the public treasury were an annual payment to the Penchen Rimpochi and the support of the priests.
With regard to the general character of the people, Bogle writes:
“The simplicity of their manners, their slight intercourse with strangers and strong sense of religion preserve the Bhutanese from many vices to which more polished nations are addicted. They are strangers to falsehood and ingratitude. Theft and every other species of dishonesty to which the lust of money gives birth are little known. Murder is uncommon, and in general is the effect of anger, and not covetousness. The celibacy of a large
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