106 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



rags, white, blue, red and occasionally yellow. It is correct to go round the left side 

 of a chhorten. 



Beyond Podung the country again closes in, and I have seen no ploughing in 

 this neighbourhood, but the fields are terraced and the roads run, wherever possible, 

 along a contour. Jungle-clad spurs are again common, interposing between wide 

 patches of old jhums and present cultivation. There are no pines close to the 

 camp, but in a corrie below us that overlooks the Pemasiri there is a single clump 

 of fir trees.' The country up the Budhatsiphak, and south of the Doshung road, is 

 the most desperate I have ever seen. I used to think the sheer Orkney precipices 

 that frown and tower 1200 ft. over the Pentland stupendous, but here on either 

 side of the narrow gorge rise peaks, pine-clad where trees can anchor, immense 

 ant hills, pointing needle-like 12,000 ft. into the sky. Huge faces of rock over- 

 look the river below and make a series of terrific passages for the Pemasiri. 

 Going up into Yortong I found two girls querning' 2 in the stone basement of a 

 house with two large mushrabeah windows on the west wall. Over 

 the door there was what looked like a wooden lantern painted blue 

 with white whorls on it. Most of the people were out in the fields 

 and their barred doors were decorated with different devices in white. 

 Some were quite elaborate. The most common design was drawn 

 O something like this. 



The women wear girdles of leather mounted with oblong pieces of pierced 

 brass and white metal- work. The most highly prized belts come from Chiamdo, 

 the next valued from Lhasa, and the more ordinary ones from Khong-bo. Not 

 only is the Chiamdo work of finer finish, but designs of animals and flowers 

 are worked on it. The Lhasa workman contents himself with conventional 

 leaf designs worked, like the Chiamdo belts, in brass and white metal. All the 

 Khong-bo belts I saw were in one metal, either brass or iron. The Memba maiden 

 does not wear a bey op. This interesting girdle has been growing small by degrees 

 and beautifully less during our progress up the valley ; and here little girls who toddle 

 about the villages innocent of their ordinary garments appear in a state of nature 

 unadorned. 



The breeds of dog are interesting. A Yorkshire terrier and a beast exactly 

 like a small black wolf are the most curious I have seen. Dopo the headman of the 

 village and locally known as the Dzong-pen (although there is no Dzong at Yortong 

 for him to command) has a delightful short-haired blue cat from Khong-bo with which 

 he absolutely refuses to part. Dark tortoise-shell and grey cats are quite common. 

 When meeting one in the road a Memba first removes his felt cap and as one 

 approaches nearer he makes a jerky salutation with his hands and puts out his 

 tongue. To almost any and every remark he ejaculates "La-so la-so." The men, 



1 It was observed that, on the left bank of the Tsanpo, pine trees grew much lower down the hillside. 



2 The Bhotia coolie acting as my interpreter said they were querning mincha into phi. The meal is made up 

 into chapattis. 



