NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF TIBET. 703 



Tea is, however, tlie principal article of food amoug all Tibetans. It 

 is not simply tlie beverage but the food of tbis people, for it is nearly 

 invariably taken mixed with butter and tsamba and the leaves are not 

 infre(iuently eaten. For a full description of the "brick tea "used in 

 Tibet and its mode of preparation 1 must refer the reader to tbe account 

 I have pubhshed elsewhere.* Tbe Museum collection contains a num- 

 ber of specimens of brick tea of various grades (pi. 14, fig. 7, shows one). 

 I shall oidy describe here the way in which the beverage is prepared. 



Tea, previously reduced to powder in a mortar, is put in the kettle 

 (Diary of a Journey, etc., p. 96, figs. 1 and 4) when the water is hot, but 

 before it is boiling, and is left to boil for about five minutes. Freipiently 

 a little concentrated extract of tea, kept for the purpose in a small tea- 

 pot, is added to give additional flavor, and a little salt or soda is also 

 thrown in. Sometimes it is partaken of at this stage of its preparation, 

 but much more generally it is poured through a small bamboo strainer 

 called ja-ts'ag (pi, 14, fig. 2) into one of the i^reviously described tea 

 churns {dong-mo), and a chunk of butter and alittle tsamba having been 

 added, it is vigorously churned for a minute or so, when it is ]>oured into 

 tea-pots of earthenware or metal (pi. 14, figs. 1 and 5, and pi. 15) and is 

 then ready to be drunk. Each one draws from the bosom of his gown 

 a little wooden bowl {purba), frequently lined or otherwise ornamented 

 with silver (pi. 14, fig. 3), and, a little tea having first been sprinkled 

 toward the four cardinal points as an ofl'ering to the gods, the bowls 

 are filled. Taking with his fingers a chunk of butter from a sheep's 

 paunch in which it is kept, or from a wooden butter box i^marpa) (pi. 14, 

 fig. 0), the drinker lets it melt in his bowl, drinking the while some of 

 the tea and blowing the melted butter to one side. When but a little 

 tea is left in the bottom of the bowl, a handful of tsamba is added, and 

 tbe tea, butter, and meal are deftly worked into a ball with the right 

 hand, the bowl being meanwhile slowly turned around in the lett. The 

 resulting lump of brown d<mgh, which is of a rather agreeable taste, if 

 the butter is not too rancid, is then eaten, and enough tea is drunk to 

 wash down the sodden lump. When dried cheese [chura) is eaten it is 

 first soaked in tea and then eaten with buttered tea and tsamba. \ 



The Tibetans of all parts of the country make tea as above described, 

 and eat their tsamba in tbis way. They have no regular meals; tbe 

 kettle is always kept full of tea and each one takes tea when he is 

 hungry. I Those who, like lamas reading the sacred books and others, 

 are continually emjiloyed during the day, keep beside them a pot of 



*LaiKl of the Lamas, pp. 278-281 and p. 310, and also to E. Collioiirne Baber's 

 Travels and Reseax'cbes in Western China, p. 192 et seq. 



tFre(ineutly, also, the tea is drunU plain with the addition of about a fifth its 

 volume of milk. 



tin Knnduz the people use Keimiik chali or cream tea; fat is sometimes added 

 and salt is the uniform substitute for sugar. (Wood, Journey to the Source of the 

 Oxus, p. 143, 2"' edit.) Milk tea is or was served a taudiences given by the Emperor 

 of China. 



