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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Dr. A. L. Shelton 



TIBETAN HOUSES IN THE ROBBER-INFESTED BAD LANDS 



These homes are built primarily for protection. With the exception of the main entrance, 

 there is no opening until the third story is reached. This style of architecture greatly simpli- 

 fies the problem of defense against marauders. 



ning-wheel. This is little more than a 

 small disk of wood fastened to an up- 

 right, the whole being twirled with thumb 

 and finger. 



The wool, which is fastened to the end 

 of the upright, is thus twisted into thread ; 

 the thread is then woven on a crude loom 

 into very heavy woolen cloth about six 

 inches wide. From this cloth, purchased 

 with tsamba and barley meal, the people 

 of the lower valley, where the climate is 

 not so cold, make their gown-like gar- 

 ments. 



It is by no means easy to judge the 

 financial status of a Tibetan by the kind 

 of clothes he wears. One may see men 

 dressed in rough sheepskin, with their 

 hair hanging in tangles down their backs 

 and their appearance indicating that they 

 had never had a bath in their lives, bar- 

 gain for something worth hundreds of 

 dollars. 



If such an individual decides to pur- 

 chase the article, he will pull out of his 

 dirty gown a leather bag of gold dust 

 and unconcernedly weigh out a sufficient 



quantity of the shining powder to pay for 

 it. Less uncouth purchasers will prob- 

 ably use in their transactions the rupees 

 of Chinese mintage, which constitute the 

 most generally employed medium of ex- 

 change in Tibet. Chinese brick tea, like 

 salt, is also used in some sections in place 

 of money. 



MONOGAMY, POLYGAMY, AND POLYANDRY 

 FLOURISH 



The marriage customs of the people of 

 Tibet present a peculiar combination of 

 monogamy, polygamy, and polyandry — 

 the last particularly characteristic of the 

 country, though monogamy is actually 

 the prevailing system. Under the poly- 

 androus system, the eldest son of a fam- 

 ily marries a woman and she becomes 

 the common wife of himself and his 

 brothers. 



Polyandry is far more common, es- 

 pecially among the nomads, than one is 

 likely to believe at first. Under this sys- 

 tem a woman usually marries three or 

 four brothers, but one case came under 



