TACHIENLU, THE GATE OF THIBET 215 



security against marauding bands, must seem eminently 

 rational to the nomad. 



" Polyandry also entails the family property. This is very 

 important, as division of the flocks or grazing-grounds v/ould 

 soon ruin every one. Whatever the ideal system for these 

 Thibetans may be, the one which provides one wife, one family, 

 and one flock for all the male members of the family is the most 

 convenient. Anything else would be suicidal. Both polygamy 

 and monogamy presuppose racial increase and the formation 

 of new and independent centres, but polyandry promises the 

 great desideratum of the Thibetan — an almost stationary 

 community and an intact patrimony. 



" In a land of polyandry, priestly celibacy, and nondescript 

 roving, the number of unmarried women must be large. This 

 class, with the Chinese, Lamas, and Thibetan merchants, is 

 responsible for the quasi-polyandry of the plain, which only 

 differs from prostitution inasmuch as it has the sanction of the 

 country and carries with it no odium. The priest is a celibate, 

 as a rule, by profession, but an inveterate roue in practice. 

 Quite a large number of women are required wherever lamaseries 

 exist. In Lhassa, where thousands of students from all parts 

 of the country study for years, the number of women married 

 temporarily, openly, or in secret, to individuals or small com- 

 munities is very great. The wandering Thibetan merchants 

 form another class who demand a supply of temporary wives for 

 longer or shorter periods. These may often be men who have 

 formed polyandrous unions in the mountains, but the exigencies 

 of circumstances demand their presence on the plain. In other 

 words, there is no reason why a man may not be a polyandrian 

 legally, and in practice a polygamist. 



" But the most interesting phase of this system arises from 

 peculiarities of Chinese domination. Chinese soldiers, officials, 

 and merchants residing temporarily in Thibet form a very 

 large body. These victims of circumstances leave their wives 

 in far-away China. There is a legend that the Lamas have put 

 an embargo on the dainty Chinese woman : but, more prob- 

 ably, her lord and owner has neither the mind nor the money 

 to introduce her to the dangers and hardships of a Thibetan 

 journey. But he rarely, if ever, pines for the wife of his 



