INHABITED REGIONS AGAIN io8r 
long, narrow Chinese pipe, and politely motioned us to 
enter. 
The tent was constructed of an old and very ragged 
felt carpet, held up by two poles. Each of the long 
sides was kept back by three horizontal poles fastened, 
by means of ropes passing through holes in the tent- 
covering, to upright stakes driven into the ground outside. 
This made the tent more rounded at the top, and con- 
sequently more roomy. In the middle of the roof there 
was a long, narrow smoke -vent. The poles which 
supported the tent were of tamarisk wood, and had 
grown at Hajar in Tsaidam. 
A violent snowstorm from the west coming on just 
then, we went inside the tent and had a look at its 
furnishings. The most important object was a small 
cubiform box standing against the short side immediately 
opposite the entrance. As Parpi Bai justly remarked, 
it was a budkIianeJi or shrine to Buddha. After some 
hesitancy the old woman opened the shrine ; it contained 
Tibetan books, written on long, narrow loose sheets, 
and each book, or bundle of such sheets, was wrapped 
in a piece of cloth. The old woman dusted the holy 
shrine with a yak’s tail which lay on the box -lid ; and 
beside the box were a few basins of brass and wood, 
evidently sacred vessels. The rest of the furniture con- 
sisted of a Chinese porcelain bowl, a leather pail, a jug 
of the same material, an iron cooking -pot, a copper 
saucepan with a lid, a brass teapot, a bag full of a certain 
dried plant, which was thrown on the fire to give a 
fragrant smell, together with knives, bellows, steel (for 
striking fire), saddles and bridles,. ragged clothes, a sheep’s 
bladder filled with yak fat, and a bag of tsamba (see pp. 
1 09 1- 1 092). The greater part of the space was taken 
up with hams, legs, and chines of wild yak beef ; others 
lay piled up in a heap outside the tent, so that we were 
obliged to keep our dogs tied up. The flesh is left in 
the air until it shrinks, and turns dry and black, and hard 
as wood. The old woman took a knife, and cut off a 
few slices, and roasted them over the fire, and then offered 
11.-27 
