98 GEORGE D-S-DTJNBAR ON 



The I v amaistic sects in Pemakoichen are the Nyingma and the Gelugpa, the 

 former predominating the latter being inconsiderable. I was told that the isolation 

 of the monasteries was the canse of an indulgence permitting the Nyingma to marry. 1 

 The Gelugpa have been described as more asectic/ but I must regretfully record my 

 impression that in Pemakoichen ff the world forgetting" seems less applicable than 

 <c by the world forgot." The monks wear reddish-coloured robes and, in addition to 

 their prayer wheels, have rosaries of wood, glass, crystal, coral, wax or amber beads 

 with leather tags at intervals to which four-leafed shamrocks of silver or brass are 

 attached. A skull-bone necklace in my possession has 109 discs and two ivory dice ; 

 two other rosaries have 109 and 112 beads respectively. 



The Memba weapons are a gun and the long Tibetan sword. 3 The prong gun is 

 rapidly being relegated to the position of an interesting heirloom — such is the 

 march of civilization. No enthusiasm was, however, shown to produce less obsolete 

 arms for inspection. 



Men and women wear hats, chogas and putties, the women winding long woven 

 cumberbands round their waists. The folds of the robe above the waistband make 

 a capacious pocket for both sexes. The men wear trousers or sometimes " shorts." 

 The wealthier people wear long warm boots. Women wear brass or silver ornaments 

 from Pomed, Tibet and Bhotan. Amulets are universally used and a small devil 

 cast in metal is frequently worn as a charm round the neck. These are supplied by 

 the I,amas for the customary fee. It is, in fact, the country and not its present 

 inhabitants that has been visited for the first time. For, as regards the people who 

 live in Pemakoichen, it is felt that the knocker has been described off the door of 

 their houses in a whole library of books on travel among the Himalayas. 



June 23rd. Left Kopu and reached Geling in 5| hours, halting here for the night ; an easy 



inarch. In general appearance Geling is an improvement on the village we have left. 

 The only outward and visible signs that Kopu is a Memba village are the masts and 

 streamers at the entrance, and a heap or two of stones. 4 Geling has a small stone 

 and mortar house built about two years ago through which a stream flowing 



l S. C. D. in his " Journey to Lhasa " refers to Yaslung Shetag Lamasery where forty monks and as many nuns 

 live together, the arrangement being sanctioned by the Nyingma church to which they belong. Rockhill in a foot-note 

 referring to the " Report on Explorations," 1856-1886, confirms this practice, and states that explorer K. P. [Kinthup] 

 found in the lower Tsanpo valley at Thum Tsung, Bhal Gompa and Marpung, monasteries in which both men and women 

 were allowed to preach and live together. I visited Marpung and found nuns in its cloisters. Thum Tsung and Bhal 

 Gorripa I have not been able to identify. Waddell in " Lamaism " (p. 278) gives a list of 15 monasteries in Pema- 

 koichen, all except two (the Gelujpa monasteries of Chainnak and Demu) being Nyingma. The names are not of course 

 arranged in geographical order, and of them only Dorjiyu, Phuparong, Kongidem, Nartong, Rinchenpung, Tsenchuk and 

 Geling have been identified. In connexion with this passage it was gathered in 1913 that, the chief monasteries in the 

 country are Marpung and Rinchenpung. 



" 3 See " Buddhism," pp. 58-63, for a description of this sect. 



3 The Tibetan sword is included in the Abor armament by the earliest European writers on Assam such as Butler, 



* Mr. Sherring in his Memoir describes how the Bhotias erect saithans or shrines for their gods or, more 

 frequently, a simple stone and by it a darcho which is a tree trunk with a few branches left on top fixed in the ground, 

 with strips of cloth (daja) floating in the wind tied to it. The curiously similar practice of lopping the trees seen 

 in Bomdo and Janbo villages may have thus originated. 



