THE REAL PANBOH 293 



periodically, but never brings her home. He takes all the 

 sons, the mother keeps all the daughters. All the work 

 and labour performed by the wife is for the benefit of 

 her father, not that of her husband. No wedding 

 ceremony takes place: young people meet at the fairs 

 which are frequently held, and arrange their own 

 marriages. After this preliminary, the young man begins 

 his visits to the young woman as above. I don't think 

 Anparh had the imagination necessary to invent such a 

 singular custom for my special amusement, so perhaps 

 what he said was true. Late in the evening arrived the 

 real Panboh from Zarang. The man I rescued from the 

 Garhwalis, it now appeared, was only his younger brother. 

 The genuine Panboh, who was an old man, sent word that 

 he was too tired to see me that evening, and put off his 

 visit till next day. The truth was, he had been indulging 

 too much in chhang (Tibetan beer) on his way from the 

 village, and did not feel equal to high diplomacy in con- 

 sequence. Several other men arrived after him, all 

 mounted on stout little ponies, mostly greys. I was told 

 that all the swells of the six villages under the Panbuh 

 were to assemble here and hold a parliament over the 

 stranger who had entered their borders: the president 

 would be the Panbuh. I arranged through Anparh to 

 bribe him, as well as other influential members; and 

 promised a feast and chhang at Tango after everything 

 had been settled in my favour. All I wanted was to get 

 back Ijy the Sangyukh-la to Ni'lang, the frontier village, 

 and, if possible, to get a view of a real Tibetan village. 

 Everybody appeared to be in high good-humour, and 

 the Jadhs were singing at the top of their voices. 



The Panboh continued to make excuses, and these 

 culminated at last in his refusal to visit me at all. He 

 said, in the first place, that he could not allow me to go 



