256 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



his profits on the deal and interest. For Tibet is 

 a dark country, the people suffering the oppression 

 on the one hand of the officials from Lhassa, on 

 the other of the monasteries the former having 

 complete powers over their bodies, the latter over 

 their souls. 



The brick-tea which occupies such an important 

 place in the lives of all Tibetans, fulfilling as it 

 does most of the purposes of a currency, is not 

 really the rubbish it has been described by many 

 Tibetan travellers. The worst qualities of the tea, 

 it is true, are composed of the coarser leaves of 

 the plant intermixed with twigs, but the better 

 qualities are made from high- class pickings. But 

 all sorts have certain special qualities that make 

 the bricks invaluable to nomadic peoples. The 

 peculiar process of manufacture the bricks under- 

 go, which, so far, Indian factories have quite failed 

 to imitate, renders them easy to cut or break 

 without making them friable, so that they stand 

 transport well without crumbling. Connoisseurs 

 of Central Asia, affirm that this tea is far more 

 digestible than other teas, green or black, and 

 its final claim to superiority is that three infusions, 

 or I should more properly say decoctions, can be 

 made from it. 



A Tibetan tea-maker's recipe might run as 

 follows : Thoroughly boil a handful of tea in 



