BRITISH MISSIONS TO BHUTAN
occupied on the journey was sixty-eight, and Poonakha was not reached till April 1. During his stay at Poonakha a rebellion broke out, the object of which was to dethrone the Deb Raja. Both Turner on the previous and Eden on the subsequent Mission came in for a civil war. The Mission was in its progress through the country received everywhere with marked distinction, was waited upon by the Subahs of the districts through which it passed, and was properly treated at Poonakha. Pemberton, however, did not succeed in obtaining the consent of the Durbar to the treaty he was instructed to proffer, and he was refused permission to proceed to Tibet. The Durbar even refused to forward a letter to Lhasa. The movements of the members of the Mission were closely watched, and intercourse by the villagers on the route with the Mission was so closely prohibited that it was with the utmost difficulty that any information was obtained about the country. The draft treaty which Pemberton submitted to the Bhutan Government was extremely moderate in its terms. It provided for the same privilege of freely trading in Bhutan by the subjects of the British-Indian Government that the Bhutanese already enjoyed in India; for the mutual surrender of criminals and runaway raiyats; for the more punctual payment of the Bhutan tribute for the Duars, and its payment in cash instead of in kind, and for power for the British-Indian Government to take possession of any Duar the tribute of which should fall into arrears, and hold the same till the arrears were paid off; for decisive measures by the Deb Raja to stop aggressions by the Dewangiri Raja and other of his subjects on the frontier; for the settlement of boundaries and the appointment of a Bhutanese agent at Gauhati and Rangpur. After many protracted discussions, the Deb and Dharma Rajas and other members of the council, except the Tongsa Penlop, were ready to sign the treaty, but owing to the opposition of the Tongsa Penlop, who divided the supreme power in the country with the Paro Penlop, and whose
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