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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Dr. A. L. Shelton 



A SCENK IN THE TIBETAN PLAY WHICH IS GIVEN EVERY PALE AT BATANG 



The performance occupies four days. During the festivity people from all parts of the 

 country lay aside their usual labors and come to enjoy the outing. Every one is free to attend, 

 but those who are able to do so are expected to make presents, either of money, meat, flour, 

 grain, butter, or any other useful article, to the group of players for that year. The plays 

 are historical in character. 



Woman, on the whole, occupies a bet- 

 ter position in Tibet than in a great many 

 of the Eastern countries. She is prac- 

 tically master in the home and usually all 

 transactions of a business nature con- 

 cerning the family must have her sanc- 

 tion. Nor is she confined and prevented 

 from going out as she pleases. 



Once while I was traveling in what 

 we have christened the "Bad Lands," to 

 the west of Batang, I observed a custom 

 I had not met with in any other part of 

 the border country, which illustrated the 

 privileged character of the Tibetan wife. 

 In that region, after a woman marries 

 and goes into the home in which she is to 

 live, no other woman is permitted to go 



inside the door. If she wishes to visit 

 with any of the neighbors or they with 

 her, the visiting must be done outside the 

 houses. 



ONE PERSON IN SEVEN IS A LAMA OR 

 PRIEST 



Any reference to the social institutions 

 of the Tibetans would be incomplete 

 without mention of the lamas. They are 

 the monks or priests of Tibetan Bud- 

 dhism and live in great monasteries called 

 lamaseries. Nearly every family in the 

 country has at least one son who is a 

 lama. Fully one-seventh of the entire 

 population of Tibet, it is estimated, live 

 in the lamaseries, being supported, of 



