NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF TIBET. 677 



civilized than the shepherd or herdsman of the north, with whom I have had but 

 little intercourse, and of whom I do not pretend to draw the portrait. 



One readily understands that with such a character, with dissolute habits, the 

 Tibetan becomes easily cruel and vindictive. Often discussion, begun in laughter 

 and usually while drinking, ends with drawn knives. If he has not appeased his 

 anger, he never forgives. Revenge alone can jiacify him if he believes himself 

 insulted. But he does not show it at tirst. On the contrary, he affects to live on 

 good terms with his enemy. He invites him, trades in preference with him, but he 

 wull put a ball in his chest after a good dinner, during which lie has shown himself 

 most friendly and has sworn the other lasting friend.ship. 



Such are the principal faults of the Tibetan. What are his virtues? I believe his 

 mind is instinctively religious, and this leads him to willingly perform certain 

 external devotional practices and even to go on long and trying pilgrimages, which 

 cost him, however, but little money. As to religious convictions, he has absolutely 

 none, a result of the profound ignorance in which the lamas leave tlie people, either 

 on account of their incapacity to teach them, or perhaps so as to keep the business of 

 Avorship in their own hands, as it insures them a large revenue. The religious acts 

 of the i^eople are ouly performed through routine; they do not understand them or 

 care to understand them ; hence ignorance in the lower classes, scepticism and indif- 

 ference in the others, principally among the mandarins and lamas. The Tibetan's 

 other virtues are nearly all material ones, if I may use such an expression ; thus, he 

 bears with ease and for long periods cold, fatigue, hunger, and thirst; but if he 

 finds good compensation for his sulferings, he will never overlook it. He is generally 

 active, but less industrious than the Chinese, and arts have advanced much less in 

 Tibet than in Cliina. While at work, he sings without a care; at a feast, he goes 

 gossiping about and drinking with his friends; he sings, dances, and drinks during 

 the night without a recollection of the sorrows of the day before, or without think- 

 ing of the cares of the morrow. Such is the Tibetan as I have known him. (C. H. 

 Desgodius, Le Thibet, pp. 251-253.) 



Though Father Desgodius has lived longer among Tibetans than any 

 other foreigner of whom I know, still the opinions of other travelers 

 must not be overlooked. Turner (Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo 

 Lama, p. 350) says: 



The Tibetans are a very humane, kind people; I have personally had numerous 

 opportunities of observing their disposition. 



Humanity, and an unartiticial gentleness of disposition, are the constant inheri- 

 tance of a Tibetan. I never saw these qualities preserved by any people in a more 

 eminent degree. Without being servilely officious, they are always obliging; the 

 higher ranks are unassuming; the inferior, respectful in their behavior; nor are they 

 at all deficient in their attentions to the female sex ; but, as we find them moderate 

 in all their passions, in this respect also their conduct is eiiually remote from rude- 

 ness and adulation. 



Capt. Turner, it is not amiss to remark, attributes these pleasing 

 qualities of the Tibetan to the much-abused practice of polyandry. 



Though I would not care to put up my opinion against men who have 

 had so much more exi^erience than I of the native character, I can not 

 but think that the Tibetan's character is not as black as Horace della 

 Penna and Desgodius have painted it. Intercourse with these people 

 extending over six years leads me to believe that the Tibetan is kind- 

 hearted, aflectionate, and law-abiding, and that many of the most objec- 

 tionable features in his character, those on which Desgodius chiefly 

 dwells, only appear in his intercourse with foreigners with whom he 

 has had hardly any relations, and whom he instinctively fears and 



