LIFE AMONG THE PEOPLE OF EASTERN TIBET 



299 



. 



Photograph by Dr. A. L. Shelton 



THE KING OF DERGE, HIS TWO WIVES, AND OTHER MEMBERS OE HIS HOUSEHOLD 



Derge for many years was an independent state, but is now under Tibetan rule. The Chinese 

 and Tibetan influences are here plainly seen. 



high country to Batang will not drive 

 their animals into the town. They un- 

 load ten miles from their supposed desti- 

 nation, at a point about 12,000 feet in 

 altitude, and the Batang consignees must 

 provide transportation for the remainder 

 of the distance to the 9,000-foot level. 



The agricultural people of the lower 

 valleys live in substantial houses of mud 

 with flat roofs. In constructing the mud 

 walls the Tibetans use forms of parallel 

 boards not unlike the forms used in the 

 United States for molding walls of con- 

 crete. The mud is beaten into the forms 

 until it is puddled, and when dry it is 

 very hard (see page 307). 



The agriculturists have few animals. 

 Yak are employed for plowing, however, 

 being brought down from the higher 

 country for the purpose at the proper 

 time. 



CRUDE PLOWS DRAWN BY YAK 



The farm operations are carried on 

 under conditions that a well-equipped 

 American farmer would consider a heavy 

 handicap. The plows used are made en- 



tirely of wood, with a single handle. 

 They have been developed beyond the 

 most primitive types of wooden plows, 

 however, having removable digging parts, 

 which are replaced when worn or broken. 



The front end of the beam of the plow 

 is attached to the middle of a wooden 

 bar, each end of which is bound to the 

 horns of a yak. One person usually 

 leads the yak team, while another walks 

 behind, holding the handle of the crude 

 implement. The work of sowing and 

 plowing is done mostly by the men, while 

 the women do the greater part of the 

 harvesting, a division of labor the reason 

 for which is not apparent. 



The harvested grain is carried to the 

 tops of the houses, where it is threshed 

 on the flat roofs by means of flails. 

 Primitive mills are set up along the 

 streams, where the grain is ground raw 

 into flour and parched into "tsamba," the 

 latter a particularly important article in 

 the Tibetan diet. The mills are of a sim- 

 ple type common in many lands, consist- 

 ing of a stationary lower stone and an 

 upper stone revolved on the lower by 



