724 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



I DDticed but few games of chance among them. Dice they have, but they are for 

 divining ])urpose8, not for gambling. A few men who had passed much of their time 

 among the Chinese i)layed cards, and chess is also known among them, but both are 

 of foreign importation, and I coukl hear of no national game. . 



I have seen children amusing themselves with rag dolls and little 

 bows and arrows, and Dr. Hooker (Himalayan Journals, i, p. 317), 

 speaking of a place in upper Sikkim, says: 



I was much amused here by watching a child playing with a popgun, made of 

 bamboo, similar to that of quill, with which most P'.nglish children are familiar, 

 which propels pellets by means of a spring trigger made of the upper part of'the quill. 



Jack stones, or knuckle bones, is the only game I have seen played 

 in the country, and that only on two or three occasions. This game is 

 also known in China and Mongolia and, in fact, throughout eastern 

 Asia. (See Bergmann, Voy. chez les Kalmuks, p. 151.) 



In Ladak and Balti the men play polo, which some authors say is a 

 game of Tibetan origin. It was once very popular under the name of 

 chaogan in India, in which country it was introduced by the Mussulman 

 conquerors toward the end of the twelfth century, but after Baber's time 

 it gradually became obsolete. (Alexander Cunningham, Ladak, p. 311.) 



Dr. Hooker (Himalayan Journals, i, p. 317) says that the Lepchas 



play at quoits, using slate for the purpose, and at the Highland game 



of "putting the stone" and "drawing the stone." The game of quoits 



is also played in the adjacent country of Bhutan and, I believe, in other 



portions of southern Tibet. Wrestling is also a popular amusement in 



most i)arts of Tibet; it is, I believe, that known among us as Greco- 



Koman. 



IX. 



BIRTH — MARRIAGE — DEATH. 



Birth. — " They (the Tibetans) do not wash and bathe a newly-born 

 child, but the mother licks it as soon as it is born. After three days 

 they smear the child's body all over with butter and expose it to the 

 sun's rays for several days. Children are fed on parched meal (tsamba) 

 mixed with soup, the greater part of them getting no milk whatever." 

 (Journ. Boy. Asiat. Soc, n. s., xxiii, j). 231.) 



As a general rule the name given the children is chosen Dy a lama, 

 who also casts the child's horoscope, and no festivities attend this nam- 

 ing. The name chosen is usually a Buddhist term, such as Lozang, " the 

 intelligent," or Dorje, "the thunderbolt {vadjra}^^^ iov a boy, while 

 Padma, "the lotus," and Drolma, the name of the goddess Tara, who 

 was incarnated in the Chinese and Nepalese consorts of King Srong-tsan 

 gambo, are favorite names for women. Frequently two sons of a same 

 mother will have the same name, and CKen. " the big one, senior," and 

 Chhing^ "the little one, junior," will be added to their names. There are 

 no family names. 



Cunningham says that in Ladak they celebrate a " birth feast " ( Tsas- 

 Ton) and a "naming feast'' {Ming-Ton). 



