A CLASSICAL OBLATION 301 



shortly afterwards. He was a strapping young man, manly 

 in bearing, with a heavy tread and swaggering gait in his 

 long Chinese boots. He was the eldest son of the Tangi 

 head-man, and brother of the young fellow I took such a 

 liking to at Di'mti. He drank his glass very gracefully : 

 sitting on his knees, he held the cup in his left hand, 

 muttered a prayer, threw some drops over his right 

 shoulder, then over his left, said a few words more, turned 

 to his right, and poured a few drops on the ground, faced 

 to his front, and drained the cup. This performance took 

 him a minute or more. Some of the old fellows, after 

 finishing their cups, licked them clean. The last ceremony 

 was the presentation of a penknife, pair of scissors, and a 

 small looking-glass (total value about a rupee) to the 

 Panboh. This completed this business. The first use he 

 made of the mirror was to examine his teeth — what he had 

 of them. Seeing that the two projecting fangs were not 

 over-clean, he polished them up with the cuffs of his coat. 

 It was explained to him that the glass and scissors were 

 for Mrs. Panboh. He grinned. On the handle of the 

 penknife were the portraits of two royal personages ; this 

 was explained to the Panboh, whereupon a coarse fellow 

 on his right exclaimed, " Beware how you take another 

 lady home ; Mrs. P. will make you feel unhappy ! " These 

 people were very jocular and humorous, and had not a 

 serious thought among them as far as I could see. Shortly 

 after, the meeting broke up, and the Panboh strolled 

 back to his rock. Let me record his name here; it is 

 Tsamdabi-ya. He was for fourteen years Chaprang-Zong, 

 that is, Governor of Chaprang, a fort on the Sutlej about 

 forty-five miles from his village. He was now in charge 

 of these six villages and all the passes between Shipki 

 frontier village, on the Sutlej, and Nilang. His salary was 

 the revenue of the Tangi village. 



