THE TOPMOST COUNTRY OF THE EARTH. 531 



the better class the only means provided for the family to reach the 

 upper stories are split trunks of trees, with notches for steps cut in the 

 round side. The rooms are dark and gloomy, well ventilated through 

 the half-stopped chinks in the walls, with a fire in the middle of the 

 floor, and light bunks or the floor itself for beds, but innocent of any 

 other furniture except a low table and two or three skin mats ; chairs 

 and benches are known only by hearsay. The only roof is a flat plat- 

 form over the rooms, on which the crops are spread in dry weather 

 and the inhabitants sun themselves in the winter, and where a shrine 

 of Buddha is often erected. The nomadic, cattle-raising Thibetans 

 live in tents, which they weave from the hair of their domestic ani- 

 mals. 



The Thibetans are pleasantly disposed, and intercourse with them 

 would be cordial and agreeable were not the free development of their 

 natural traits restricted by the pressure of their religion. Frank and 

 hearty in word and deed and in everything that is not connected with 

 religion, generous in intercourse and in trade with the crafty Chinese, 

 they always come out second best when they have dealings with them. 

 They are brave soldiers and feared as such, but are never cruel. The 

 men are fond of gymnastic exercises, and try their strength to- 

 gether at every opportunity. They are excellent pedestrians and 

 . horsemen, and are extravagantly proud if they can boast of having 

 the best horse in the place. As porters they have wonderful powers 

 of endurance. While we Europeans, suffering in the thin air of an 

 elevation of seventeen thousand feet, had to stop often to recover our 

 breaths, I could not but envy our Thibetan bearers, who kept on up 

 the heights with their heavy loads, as often as not singing. Their 

 social intercourse is marked by sharp, sprightly wit and humor ; but 

 some of the upper classes ape the artificial courtly manners of the 

 Chinese. 



The principal food of the country is called Jamba. To make it a 

 quantity of powdered tea is cooked for several hours, after which it is 

 poured into a churn, when salt and butter are added, and the whole is 

 stirred till a complete mixture is effected. The broth is then divided 

 among the hungry ones, each of whom gets his share in a wooden 

 bowl, after which a sack of roasted barley-meal is brought out. Every 

 one takes a handful of meal from the sack, puts it into the tea and 

 mixes the mass into a shapely lump, and swallows his dough with a 

 keen appetite. I have seen a Thibetan devour thirty-two of these 

 lumps in .an hour. The preparation of this meal makes it possible for 

 each Thibetan to have his hands washed twice a day. After the meal 

 is over, the wooden bowls are licked clean with the tongue, and worn 

 on the breast next to the skin as something precious. 



Polyandry is practiced, not on account of any lack of women, for 

 there is no such lack, but as a measure of economy. When the eldest 

 son marries, his wife becomes also the wife of all his brothers. The 



