2 [6 Notes on Moor croft's Travels in Ladakh. [No. 148. 



lar import. A bridge of the kind alluded to, is called in Kunawaree 

 and in Bhotee, j&mpa or jambah. 



2nd. Jhoola is not a Kunawaree term, and the sort of bridge is not 

 known or used in the Bhotee district in question. The Kunawaree 

 term is torang. 



3rd. Sazam or chazam, is the Bhotee term for a bridge of twisted 

 twigs. In Kunawaree such a bridge is called Iran. 



4th. Chakzam means, as Captain Gerard remarks, iron bridge, 

 but although I never saw the particular bridge alluded to by him, 

 I have every reason to suppose it is an ordinary wooden one with an 

 iron hand-rail. It is, however, familiarly called the iron bridge. 



Customs. 



Ears of Grain suspended, 6}c. — The top of which (pillars of wood) 

 is in the houses of the peasantry encircled by a band of straw and 

 ears of wheat. It is the custom, I was told, to consecrate the two or 

 three first handsful of the last year's crop to a spirit which presides 

 over agriculture, and these bands are thus deposited. — Moor croft, II, 

 317-18. 



The Tartar husbandmen have a custom similar to those of some 

 of the Scotch farmers who, &c. &c. The Tartars use three ears of 

 barley, which they paste outside over the door.— Gerard, p. 98. 



This superstition apparently takes various forms along the lower 

 course of the Pitti. I could not hear of the exact custom mentioned 

 by Gerard as prevailing at Nissang on the Sutlej ; nor could I hear 

 of that mentioned by Moorcroft. I saw, however, in temples, bunches 

 of ears of barley, (always an odd number in each bunch,) hung up 

 before images, and I understood that in Pitti itself, bunches were simi- 

 larly hung up in the houses. 



Presentation of Silk Scarfs. — This person who was styled Lafa, 

 visited me twice, and we exchanged scarfs, which is an invariable cus- 

 tom. — Gerard, p. 104. 



Lafa is the title in Tibet of the deputy of the head-man of the 

 village, and he is a very small functionary indeed; but Captain Gerard 

 seems to have seen things in these countries through an illusive me- 

 dium. Elegant houses, magnificent temples, and honest men ! 



