NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF TIBET. 699 



In some parts of tlie country a rude vertical loom (called, I believe, tag- 

 tan written htag-sfan) is used, but, as far as my uui^racticed eye could 

 discern, it showed no material difference in the mode of weaving from 

 that above described. Jaeschke (Tib. Engl. Diet., s. v. dong po) speaks 

 of a shuttle made of a piece of bamboo called dong po. This implement, 

 which I have never seen used, may be common in western Tibet, where 

 that missionary resided, but in all parts visited by me the yarn was 

 made up into balls. The woof in the vertical looms is wrapped around 

 two rollers so that the weaving may be done in a confined space, but I 

 noticed no such mechanical devices as I was expecting to find for 

 drawing up the parts of the warp as required, but only snmll sticks, 

 varying in number, as in the ruder loom previously referred to. This 

 loom has unquestionably been borrowed from China, audit ishighly prob- 

 able that in many parts of Tibet the one in use is of the pattern usual 

 in China; unfortunately, I can find no description of one in any works 

 to which I have access, and my own knowledge of the subject is too 

 limited to make a description of it intelligible. 



Father Desgodins says: 



111 Tibet the professioii of weaver, called Ta-keii (htag-mk'an), is coutiiied to the 

 ■women. The loom employed is not complicated; it has ouly the essential elements 

 usually found in such appliances. 



Nearly all the woolen stntfs are diagonals. The pieces are from 30 to 35 centime- 

 ters broad, often less, and 10 meters long. They are thick and rather coarse, for the 

 surface is not shorn as is done with cloth with us, but they are very warm and nearly 

 waterproof. 



I have been told of a woolen stuff, very line and rather loosely woven, called 

 tirma. It is a very fine texture, and resembles somewhat the stuff we call serge; it 

 is frequently used to make the scarfs worn by the lamas over their shoulders during 

 prayers; it is, I believe, the most expensive tissue they manufacture. They do not 

 know how to weave wide stufts as in Europe, but all the little narrow strips are 

 afterwards sewn together with woolen thread, and look very well, though they would 

 not suit French taste. (Desgodins, Le Thibet, p. 390.) 



The cloth most commonly used in Tibet is that called prug (pro- 

 nounced tntJi-), but which is perhaps better known under its Chinese 

 name of j)?</o, a transcription, I take it, of the native name. It is chiefly 

 manufactured in Ulterior Tibet, near the city of Shigatse (see Turner, 

 Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo lama, p. 225), whence it is exported 

 to all parts of Tibet, to Mongolia and China. The principal colors are 

 red, purple, blue, white stamped with crosses, narrow stripes of blue, 

 yellow, green, etc., running across the stuft", or a combination of the 

 stripes and crosses. (PI. 12.) 



The price of pulo varies from an ounce of silver a piece to 30 or 40 

 ounces for the finest kinds. It is usually 10 or 11 braces {damha) long. 



The variety of cloth called tirma, mostly used, as Father Desgodins 

 remarks, for lamas' shawls, is invariably dyed red. It is of the same 

 width as the tnd-, about 9 inches, a good sample of it is in the Museum 

 collection. 



In Po-yul, in southern Tibet, a very closely woven stuff, which is 



