DECISION GIVEN AGAINST ME 295 



not one in any respect resembled another. This is a most 

 noticeable feature among these people ; there seems to be 

 no racial type. The difference also between the common 

 herd and the head-man and his connections was very 

 marked ; the latter seem to belong to a foreign and distinct 

 stock, Chinese-like. There was only one thing in common 

 between them — their terribly bad teeth: they had not 

 among them a set of teeth that could be looked at without 

 disgust, and the Tanboh, I think, had the worst. His two 

 eye-teeth stuck out beyond his lips like canine fangs. 

 His younger brother and the son of the Tangi head-man 

 were decidedly Chinese in feature, and they were the only 

 decent-looking men in the assembly. After a long palaver 

 and much wrangling, no decision could be arrived at ; but 

 all said they did not know of any road leading to Nilang, 

 and that I could not go that way ; that I must return 

 the way I had come. I could not be allowed to visit 

 any village. The orders against foreigners entering 

 the country were very strict, and if I persisted in going 

 farther, their heads would be cut off; and so on. The 

 final reply, after much chattering, was that all had not 

 assembled yet, and no definite answer could therefore be 

 given. A fresh party arrived while I was there, and the 

 head of it dismounted some distance off and came up to 

 the assembly, leading his pony. When he caught the 

 Panbuh's eye, he doffed his Chinese felt hat in quite a 

 graceful fashion^ just in the European style, and the 

 rrreetino-s also very much resembled our own. By the bye, 

 these Tibetans have one very English habit indeed — that 

 of whistling. Riding or walking along the road, they 

 whistle ; when engaged in any work by himself, the Jadh 

 whistles; and the little boy, sitting on a rock watching 

 the ponies grazing, is sure to be whistling. 



As the business was for the time over, four of the 



