22G Notes on Eastern Thihct. [No. 3. 



frost. This is said to be induced by continued clear nights which 

 are greatly dreaded in harvest time. 



Agriculture. 



Wheat, barley and other crops sowed in April and May are reaped 

 in September and October ; all are irrigated. The peach ripens at 

 Lassa in October and November. It is sun-dried and preserved. No 

 grapes are grown at Lassa. The whole supply of raisins is received 

 from Ladakh. The plough is used in all old cultivations : yaks, bul- 

 locks and ponies occasionally are trained to it. The plough is the 

 same as the Indian one, made entirely of wood, except the sock which 

 is pointed with iron. Timber for ploughs is imported from Sikim and 

 Nepal. Rhododendron Hodgsoni, and birchwood make the best 

 ploughs. Cultivation in fresh lands is done with the hoe. The Thi- 

 betans do not use a harrow, the grain being covered in with hand. 



Barley in Thibet takes the place of potatoes in Ireland ; four-fifths 

 of the population live on it. 



Neither wheat, barley nor peas will come to maturity as a pay- 

 ing crop in any part of Thibet without irrigation, and the water 

 flooding of the fields, by which they derive a fertilizing effect from the 

 frost, is equally necessary to prepare the soil for these crops. "Wheat 

 requires three or four irrigations or waterings from the time the 

 seed is sown till the ear bursts, after which it will ripen without fur- 

 ther watering. The flooding of the lands in winter, and watering of 

 the crops in summer are principally effected from drains or canals 

 cut from the rivers : very little watering is performed from wells. 

 The whole of the arable lands along the Painom river and the most of 

 it on the Taroo Sanpoo are terraced and have maintaining walls of 

 stone raised a little above the surface of the fields. Great pains are 

 taken for the equable distribution of the water by running it off 

 from terrace to terrace, and it is applied from leather bags when it 

 cannot be brought to run on particular spots. Watering freely is 

 indispensable to all crops in Thibet. The atmosphere is so dry and 

 the soil so destitute of moisture, that without it the sun burns up 

 the crop before it comes to ear. In a land of so little rain and with 

 au atmosphere so dry and sun so scorching as to render irrigation and 

 free watering indispensable, the questions which naturally arise are, 

 What extent of area can be watered from the rivers by canals and 



