682 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



study. Suffice it to say that in Bliutau the dual organization noticed in 

 Lh'asa of a spiritual and temporal ruler is found in the Dharma Raja, 

 the spiritual head of the state, and the Deb Raja or temporal ruler; 

 there is also a council (or Lenchen) often members, which has under it 

 a certain number of district officers or Djongpon. (Ashley Eden, Report 

 on the State of Bootan, p. 108 et seq.) 



In Sikkim and Ladak a similar form of government obtains, with 

 only slight differences, due to continued intercourse with or subjection 

 by people of different origin.* 



Industrial organization. — In all parts of Tibet, whether among the 

 pastoral tribes or in the towns and villages, the women not only do most 

 of the household work, but they attend to much of the bartering, make 

 the butter, assist in milking the cows and looking after the flocks and go 

 on the ula. The men, aided by the women, work in the fields, or go on 

 distant journeys, hiring out their yaks or mules to carry freight, or 

 hiring themselves out as mule or yak drivers to merchants or to some 

 neighboring lamasery. Those who remain in their town or village some- 

 times follow a trade which occupies them during a small portion of their 

 time. Some are smiths, working silver, copper, or iron, and, when needs 

 be, becoming carpenters, gunsmiths, or locksmiths ; others, again, occupy 

 themselves, when industriously inclined, twisting yarn, weaving garters, 

 or making felt. In the towns nearly all shops are kept by women. 



Although the division of labor between the sexes is very unequal, 

 much the greater part devolving upon the women, the position of that 

 sex is not affected injuriously thereby. The wife's opinion is always 

 asked in household matters and in questions of trade, and her author- 

 ity in the house is supreme. She joins with the men in all discussions 

 with perfect freedom and assurance, and in nearly every walk of life 

 she is held to be on a footing of perfect equality by the male sex. Thus 

 Turner (Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. o50) says : 



Comparatively with tlieir northern neighbors, tlie women of Tibet enjoy an ele- 

 vated station in society. To the privileges of unbounded liberty the wife here adds the 

 character of mistress of the family and companion of her husband. The company 

 of all, indeed, she is not at all times entitled to expect. Different pursuits, either 

 agricultural employment or mercantile speculations, may occasionally cause the 

 temjiorary absence of each ; yet whatever be the result, the proht of the laborer 

 flows into the common store, and when he returns, whatever may have been his 

 fortime, he is secure of a grateful welcome to a social home. 



Father Desgodins, speaking, however, more especially of eastern 

 Tibet, says (Le Thibet, p. 244) : 



It is not amiss to give here a further sketch of the condition of women in Tibet, 

 where they are not contined to their homes as in India and in China. Here the women 

 go about, look after their household affairs, or trade on the market place, work in the 

 field, spin before their doors while gossiping with their friends, go on long journeys — 



* See J. D. Hooker, Himalayan Journals, ii, p. 290 et passim; G. T. Vigne, Travels in 

 Kashmir, Ladak, Lskardo, II, p. 252 et seq.; W. Moorcroft, Travels in the Himalayan 

 Provinces of Hindoostan, ii, pp. 11, 15, 20, 42, etc. 



