1849.] Journal of a trip to Sikim. 489 



ing, formed the bulk of them. The encounter with the saucy fellow 

 was as follows. He was a young Bhotia of jaunty air, and considerable 

 pretension. We met in a very narrow path, I was at the head of my 

 long line of companions, he was heading half a dozen of his ; a few paces 

 behind me was my Lepcha interpreter. The gentleman brushed past 

 me rather rudely, and with hat in hand made a very low obeisance to 

 the interpreter. " That is my servant," I said, pointing to the inter- 

 preter ; "ami no one, and who are you to behave so rudely ?" He 

 became flurried, and said ; " I did not see you." " You see me now, and 

 my servant has told you, who I am, I expect you in common courtesy 

 to salute me as well as my follower ; it is the habit of all the world for 

 men to interchange salutations when they meet in this way, and not 

 pass like pigs or horses. Is it not so ?" He agreed, and blushing deeply, 

 while his companions laughed heartily at him, he salaamed ; and then 

 we chatted amicably altogether. His manners were probably borrowed 

 from the Sikim officials ; and theirs to European gentlemen are very 

 indifferent, otherwise I could not have pained myself as I did by this 

 shew of exigency.* Now to the civil Lama of Silukfoke. He is as 

 fat as Falstaff, and puffed most effectingly as he followed my long strides 

 up the mountain. We passed his house soon after he met us, and as I 

 halted to look at it, he sent a messenger within who speedily re-appeared 

 with two Choongas of fresh Murwa Beer, each rolled up in a clean piece 

 of new American sheeting, and followed by a boy carrying two drink- 

 ing reeds with the mouth-pieces rolled up in bits of fresh plantain leaf, 

 I was presented with one, and the Kaji, my interpreter with the other. 

 I drank to our host, and found the beverage far from bad. The Lama 

 was communicative on all subjects, without any restraint, and on our 

 return from the top of the hill he took me to his house, and I sat half 

 an hour with him in his study, where his books and professional para- 

 phernalia made a very respectable appearance. On the shelves was one 

 religious work just received from Thibet, of which I have a half pro- 

 mise, "The Bhoom," in 12 large volumes. Then there was the large 

 double-headed drum, like two Tambourines joined together, with a long 

 handle to it ; a couple of bells ; a couch of two human thigh-bones 



* P. S. This was the first and the last rudeness I met with during my trip, and 

 I have no doubt that my notice of it reached the Durbar, and brought about the 

 non-repetition of it. 



