LIFE AMONG THE PEOPLE OF EASTERN TIBET 



307 



Photograph by Dr. A. L. Shelton 



A TIBETAN HOUSE) IN THE COURSE OE CONSTRUCTION 



Poles are used to hold together parallel boards, between which mud is puddled. Then 

 the forms are raised and another layer of closely packed earth added. Similar methods are 

 used from Shanghai to Russian Turkestan (see text, page 299). 



my observation in which a woman had 

 six brothers for husbands. 



Under the ordinary arrangement, one 

 husband will take care of the home in the 

 valley, if there is one ; another will be in 

 charge of the yak or sheep in the up- 

 lands ; a third will be the trader, taking 

 care of the caravan, while others will be 

 assigned special duties. 



MULTIPLE HUSBANDS AND WIVES DWELL 

 IN HARMONY 



The oldest brother is considered the 

 father and the other brothers the uncles 

 of the family. In such families the chil- 

 dren usually are not numerous, an average 

 family of children being three to five. 



If a family has no sons, but has daugh- 

 ters, one of them usually is kept in the 

 home, and a husband is brought in for 

 her and carries on the family succession. 

 The remaining daughters are normally 

 given to other families. In a few cases, 

 however, where there are two daughters, 

 one husband is brought in and a polyga- 

 mous household is established. 



It is surprising how well the families 



of multiple husbands and multiple wives 

 get along together. One with Western 

 ideas would imagine that there would be 

 a great deal of ill feeling and fighting, 

 but in both polyandrous and polygamous 

 families the members seem to live to- 

 gether in peace and harmony. 



The usual feeling in these households 

 is exemplified by the following incident : 

 While on a journey in the border country 

 I was called one night, by some folk in a 

 village where I had put up, to see a man 

 who was ill. When I told them that the 

 sick man was dying, both the other hus- 

 band, who was a brother, and the com- 

 mon wife cried bitterly. 



THE WOMAN IS HEAD OE THE HOME 



As opposed to the usual harmony in 

 polyandrous households, I knew of one 

 case the moral to which seems to be that 

 all the husbands should belong to the 

 same race. In this case a Chinaman and 

 Tibetan went into partnership with one 

 wife. For a while all seemed to go well, 

 but finally the Chinaman became dissatis- 

 fied and chased the Tibetan out. 



