148 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



a kind of small beer which they brew from barley ; they are also 

 fond of Chinese wine. 



Monogamy is the rule, but polygamy is common, it being 

 merely a question of wealth. Polyandry is not practised, but 

 the morals are lax, as is the case everywhere else under Lamaism. 

 Marriage is by consent on the part of the girl, presents of oxen 

 and sheep being made on behalf of the bridegroom to the girl's 

 parents ; children are appreciated, but the Sifan are not a 

 prolific people. The second son generally enters a lamasery, 

 as is customary throughout Thibet. Widows are permitted 

 to remarry. The dead are disposed of by burial or by being 

 thrown into the rivers. 



Abundant signs of Lamaism are everywhere apparent. 

 Prayer-flags flutter from the housetops, mountain-peaks, 

 across streams, and surmount cairns of rocks. Mani-stones are 

 heaped by the wayside ; praying- wheels, turned either by hand, 

 by the wind, or by the currents of streams, occur on all sides. 

 From the people at their work, either in low crooning tones or 

 in loud chorus, the mystic hymn, " Om mani padmi hom," is 

 continually ascending to heaven. The chant of the Sifan is 

 decidedly musical, rising and falling in soft rhythmic cadence. 

 I have often listened to them with much pleasure, though from 

 a distance, since if one tried to approach closely they ran helter- 

 skelter away. They are naturally very superstitious, being 

 fond of charms, afraid of evil spirits, and reverence unusual 

 natm'al phenomena. Though my associations with the Sifan 

 were brief I always received the utmost courtesy at their hands, 

 and found much that was pleasing and interesting among these 

 happy, unsophisticated children of Nature. 



