714 REPORT. OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



The Tibetans are very expert in using the sling {orta, or gudo, accord- 

 ing to Jaeschke), and among the tent dwellers and the i>eople of the 

 more remote localities, one is always seen hanging from the belt of both 

 men and women. It is made of wool and hair mixed; one string ter- 

 minates in a leash, and the instrument is also used as a whip in driving 

 sheep or cattle (see Diary of a Journey, etc., p. 264). I have seen time 

 and again a stone thrown a distance of over 300 yards from one of 

 these slings. 



Hunting is not allowed in many parts of Tibet, it being forbidden by 

 the religion of the country to take animal lite. In the remoter parts 

 and in eastern Tibet generally, the people hunt, however, yak, deer, 

 antelope, and especially musk deer. 



i!iain Singh says: 



The Champas are keeu in the pursuit of game, which they kill in large quantities, 

 partly with firearms and bows and arrows, but chicdy with a kind of trap called 

 Bedokh chum, A-ery similar in principle to an English rat trap. It consists of a ring 

 made of rope, to whose inner surface are attached elastic sharp-pointed slips of 

 wood converging toward the center of the ring, where a space is left sufficiently 

 large to allow the passage through it of the animal's foot. Small holes are dug in 

 the ground near the water which the wild animals are known to frequent. These 

 traps are placed at the top, hidden from view l)y a covering of earth, and attached 

 by a strong ro]ie, also concealed from view, to a stout peg, which is driven into the 

 ground at a considerable distance off. The animals on their way to the water pass 

 over the holes, and the weight of the body drives the foot through the ring. Once 

 through, it is impossible for the animal to free his foot from the trap, and he soon 

 falls a victim to the sword and spear of the hunter, who lies concealed somewhere in 

 the neighborhood. Great numbers of wild horses, sheep, and antelopes are killed 

 in this manner. (Journ. Roy. Geo. Soc, xlvii, p. 94.)* 



Capt. Samuel Turner says of the father of the then Panchen Riu- 

 poche lama of Tashilunpo: 



I found Gyap to be not only a lover of manly sports and martial exercises, but 

 also a perfect connoisseur on the sultject of arms. His collection was exhibited, 

 and he liberally descanted on the peculiar merits of each weapon. There were arrows 

 famed for their remote and steady fligbt, which had names inscribed on each of 

 them, and jilaces assigned to them in a quiver, in separate ceils. He honored me 

 with a present of three of these, and a large Chinese bow, near 5 feet in length, 

 made of the horns of bufialoes, which he had used, he said, for many years. " ' « 

 His own favorite bows were of bamboo, a species produced in the mountains bor- 

 dering upon Tibet, of great strength, and almost entirely solid. The bow is framed 

 from two pieces of bamboo, sjilit off next the outside; the inner sides of which, 

 after being well fitted, are united together by many strong bands. Gyap put one of 

 these bows into my hands, which, when bent, was of extreme tension. I was unable 

 to di'aw the arrow, but taking it himself, he pointed it at a mark upon the opposite 

 hill, at a distance, as I judged, of 500 or 600 yards. I could not trace the fiight of 

 the arrow, though steadily intent upon it, when he discharged it. * * * He 

 mentioned also the dexterity with which a horseman here would dismount his adver- 

 sary, particularly when in pursuit, by means oi a running noose. (Turner, Embassy 

 to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, pp. 341, 342.) 



* One of these traps is figured in Capt. H. Bower's Diary of a Journey through 

 Tibet, p. 117, From this we further learn that the converging slips in the trap are not 

 of wood but of horn. It is interesting to find an identical trap used by the Shuli 

 near Khartuni on the Nile. (F. Eatzel, Vr.lkerkunde, i, p. .004.) 



