302 AMONG THE TIBETANS 



The materials for the feast arrived in the morning — a 

 sheep, rice, and chhang in the rough ; there was none 

 ready in the village. So a quantity of rice, cooked and 

 fermented, was brought in a bag, and put into large copper 

 vessels. After Tandiip had finished his breakfast, he sat 

 down and began to strain the rice through a sieve by 

 rubbing and squeezing it with his hands — a process which 

 took some time, as there was a lot of rice. Anparh struck 

 off the head of the old ram, and the blood was collected to 

 the last drop in a vessel to be boiled. The Tibetans have 

 a great horror of bloodshed — it is a part of their religion ; 

 and they prefer that some one else should kill their 

 mutton. Their method is most cruel when they are 

 obliged to slaughter an animal. They tie up the nose and 

 mouth, and then let the poor beast rush about in the 

 asouies of suffocation until death relieves it. 



All the rubbish in the village was brought me for sale. 

 I bought a Tibetan coat, bags, waistbands, etc., as curiosities. 

 Two circumstances occurred during the day which pleased 

 me much. Just before breakfast, the Buddhist priest of 

 the village, a decent-looking old man, with a small boy 

 behind him carrying a long wooden vessel full of milk, 

 arrived with a message from Tandi'ip Chering's wife, to the 

 effect that the milk was a present in return for my 

 kindness in rescuing her husband from the Garhwalis. 

 The little boy, not much above my knee, was their son, 

 and he had brought the milk on his back all the way up 

 the hill, at his mother's bidding. It was deliciously fresh, 

 and nothing could have been better timed for my breakfast. 

 I sent the lady a small looking-glass and pair of scissors 

 by the hands of her son, as a token of gratitude. After 

 breakfast, a young man came with a large ball of fresh 

 butter put up in a clean cloth bag, with another message 

 to the same effect. He had been sent by his mother with 



