102 MR. C. A. SHERRING ON 



habits, and generally eat rice and meat which is only half-cooked ; while Bhotias who are 

 of much better social condition and enjoy greater material prosperity look with contempt 

 on such poor food ; but supposing that the food is properly treated and rationally prepared 

 all Bhotias will willingly join Tibetans at a meal. The Johari Rawats profess not to eat 

 with Tibetans but only to drink tea with them. As a matter of fact, the beverage called 

 tea contains in it besides tea, large quantities of butter, salt, sattu, and frequently flesh, 

 so that the above professions of the Rawats are scarcely true. All Bhotias, whether of 

 Niti Johar or pargana Darma, eat wild boars and fish of every kind, but not snakes, 

 lizards, jackals, beef, fowls, or the long-tailed goat, except the Dumra Bhotias who eat 

 the two last named. In Johar the men eat first and then the women, and leavings are 

 always for women and juniors. In pargana Darma there is no custom of eating the 

 leavings, as men, women and children all sit down and eat together. It is impossible for 

 the Bhotias to worship any of their deities without plentiful supplies of the liquor called 

 jan. This is a fermented liquor and differs from daru, which is distilled ; both are made 

 from rice, wheat and grain of all kinds, such as palti, etc. 



Dress : {Difference between Pargana Darma and the rest of Bhot.) — In the matter of 

 dress there is a great difference between the Bhotias of Garhwal and Johar and those of 

 pargana Darma. The men, it is true, generally dress in woollen stuffs of home 

 manufacture, their garments being the coat (anga) trousers {paijamd) and cap {topi) 

 familiar to all hillmen, and very generally a long frock coat {bakhu), while their shoes 

 are the same as those worn everywhere in the hills, though sometimes they wear woollen 

 boots of chequered colors which come from Tibet, and are soled with rope very 

 ingeniously and finely plaited. These boots are called baukch or babch, and are found 

 everywhere except among the Jethoras who do not visit Tibet. They cost three to four 

 rupees a pair. The women, on the other hand, are different to the ordinary hillwomen. The 

 Mana, Niti and Johar women wear a skirt {lahangd), coat {kurta), waistcoat {tawa), and shirt 

 {angid) — and finally ahead-gear {khupi) which goes one to one-and-a-half yards down the 

 back, and with which the face can be covered. The custom of pardah, i.e., covering the 

 face, is extending, but happily the '-practice of close seclusion at home is unknown. 

 However, pardah is so far known that the elder brother never sees the face of his younger 

 brother's wife, nor does he ever speak to her or go into the same room with her. Gold 

 ornaments are very common with the women of the above locality, whereas they are 

 unknown among the women of the Darma pargana, except in a few of the very richest 

 families in apatti Byans. 



The Darama pargana is divided into three pattis, viz., Byans, Chaudans and Darma, 

 and the residents in these three pattis have customs which distinguish them by a sharp 

 line from all other Bhotias ; and, further, the customs of the three pattis are not all exactly 

 alike. The women of Darma pargana wear a short-sleeved coat {chung) which reaches 

 down to the ankles and is fastened round the waist : a skirt {phu or bald) which is 

 fastened round the waist by a long sheet like a dupatta (known as jujang) : a cap 

 {chugti) on the head, and after marriage a much larger cap of thicker cloth (known as 

 chukla). In case of mourning the chukla is worn inside out. The nose-ring {nath) is 

 unknown in patti Darma and Chaudans, and the Byansis replace it by an ornament in 



