NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF TIBET. 691 



eter set with a coral or turquoise bead. (See pi. 6, figs. 4 and 6.) 

 Althougb made iii Korluk Ts'aidam, the hitter is a Tibetau earring in 

 shape and style. Frequently a little strap passes over the ear and 

 takes the weight of the earring off of the lobe of the ear. A small disk 

 of leather or bone fixed on the hoop presses against the ear, prevents 

 the earring from turning, and keeps the jewels in front, which would 

 without it fall to below the ear by their weight. 



Among the pastoral tribes of central Tibet (Namru, Jyade, etc.) the 

 men, while sometimes wearing the above-described earring, wear also a 

 larger one consisting of a pendant of gold or silver in the middle of 

 which is a large coral bead. The lower part is a hoop, on which is fas 

 tened a circular or heart-shaped plaque set with turquoises. (PI. 6, 

 fig. 1.) This earring is about 3 inches long. A rough piece of tur- 

 quoise is frequently tied to the right ear, without any setting whatever. 

 This is a favorite ornament all over Tibet, even among the wealthy 

 people in the most civilized parts of the country. 



In Lh'asa and other parts of central Tibet, besides the hoop pre- 

 viously described, officials usually wear a plain gold hoop to which is 

 fixed a pendant about 3 inches long, in the middle of which is a large 

 pearl; m this pendant are set turquoises; the lower end is enameled a 

 turquoise blue. (J. D. Hooker, Himalayan Journals, ii, p. 271, and 

 Diary of Journey, etc., p. 230.) 



Around their necks most Tibetans wear charm boxes {gawo) of wood, 

 silver, copper, or leather, in which arecarried charms against the various 

 accidents which may overtake them. These charms are usually unin- 

 telligible or meaningless Sanskrit words (see Emil Schlagintweit, Bud- 

 dhism in Tibet, pp. 174, 254, etc.), or sometimes a copy of a short canon- 

 ical work, as, for example, the "Diamond cutting sutra" {Dorje chodpai 

 do). A bit of the gown of a saintly lama, a little of the tsamba left 

 over from his meal and which has been molded into a small disk, on 

 which is impressed the image of a god (on one in the Museum the 

 image is that of Tsongk'apa), are also frequently kept in these gawo, 

 together with painted images of some god or guardian saint, also a 

 piece of peacock's feather, supi)osed to keep oft' moths. 



Some of these (/a ico are very elaboratel}- decorated. In the Museum 

 collection is an oblong silver box (No. 130391)* 4^ inches long by 3 

 inches broad and 1^ inches deep. On either side of the box is a silver 

 tube, through which the cord passes by which the box is worn around 

 the neck or fastened to a broad strap passed over one shoulder and 

 under the other arm, by which means five or six such gcuro are carried, 

 as is frequently the case. The decoration of this box consists in ara- 

 besques, Chinese dragons, and the "eight signs of good luck" {trasJd 

 tarjyd)A This gau-o was made at Lh'asa, but shows Chinese influence 

 in its style of decoration. 



* Not ilhistrated in this paper. 



iSee H. A. Oldtield, Sketclies from Nipal, ii, p. 179. 



