162 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



metal-working, but their statues and small bells are no more than creditable copies of Indian 

 models. They use iron of good quality from their own mines for making excellent blades for 

 sabres and other weapons. Although fond of precious stones, they do not know how to work 

 them. Their chief industries are connected with wool, which, on account of the favourable 



Photo by air Walter V. Hillier, K.C.MM. 



KOREAN SECRETAIRES OF STATE. 



climate, is their staple produce. Weaving is generally the work of women. Although they 

 do not excel as manufacturers, the Tibetans are born traders. Officers for the superintendence 

 and regulation of trade are appointed by the king, the ministers, and the great lamaiserais 

 (a kind of monastery). The two great market centres are Shigatze and Lassa, the capital, 

 where the caravans arrive in astonishing numbers all through December and January. ^ aks 

 and sheep are used for transport. 



A European traveller, describing a party of Tibetan tent-dwellers, says that, while the 

 men wore a variety of coats and hats, certain leading characteristics of dress were common to 

 all. One man wore a gaudy coat trimmed with leopard-skin; another had a long grey woollen 

 robe like a dressing-gown, taken up at the waist by a belt; and a third was clad in a loose 

 garb of sheep-skin with the wool inside. Yet another was arrayed in a deep red tunic, 

 fastened by a belt of leather, with silver ornamentations inlaid in wrought iron, the belt 

 holding a needle-case, tinder-pouch and steel, a pretty dagger with sheath of ebony, and other 

 articles. Most Tibetan men wear a sword in the front of their belts, and whether the coat 

 is long or short it is invariably loose, and made to bulge at the waist, where the wearer 

 generally carries two or three eating and drinking utensils, a snuff-box, such bags of 7iioney 

 as he may possess, and one or two bricks of compressed tea. It is owing to this custom that 

 Tibetan men at first sight look stout, although as a matter of fact they are really very thin. 

 When standing or walking, they leave one arm and part of the chest bare, letting the sleeve 

 hang loose. The reason for this is that the days are very hot and the nights cold; and as 

 Tibetans always sleep in their clothes, the garments that protect their bodies from frost during 

 the night are too warm in the day, and therefore this expedient is adopted. When sitting 



