226 
TIBET. 
Its superior pliability and warmth induce almost all the priests, both 
here and in Bootan, to use it for the short vest which they wear next 
the skin; and those who can afford it, have also their winter mantle 
of the same. There may perhaps be something of economy in the pre- 
ference; for I recollect that my Tibet guide rallied my Bootan attend¬ 
ant, with all the pride of nationality, on the superior excellence of his 
cloth, protesting that it would wear three times as long as the manu¬ 
facture of Bootan; and telling us how long it had been made, he opened, 
at the same time, his vest to shew it. I was not disposed to dispute 
his assertion, for it bore many visible marks of age. But the Tibetians 
are great economists in their dress, which they always choose to 
make of the most durable materials: the weight and thickness is never 
an objection. They are indeed accustomed to wear warm clothing; 
their summer dress being composed of woollen cloth, and their winter 
dress of sheep or fox skins, cured with the hair on. I speak of the 
common people; those who have the means, are dressed in silks and 
furs. But for this manufacture, the valley of Jliansu, from its central 
position, is very conveniently situated, both as to receiving the mate¬ 
rial, and conveying the cloth, when manufactured, toTeshoo Loomboo, 
Lassa, and Bootan. It has, in consequence, become the principal set¬ 
tlement of manufacturers ; and it certainly possesses every natural and 
essential advantage of space, climate, and fertility. 
We proceeded early the following morning, September the 20th, 
through fields of Lammas wheat, and passed close to the foot of the 
rock, on which Jhansu-jeung is built. The road, inclining round it, 
opened suddenly upon a monastery, situated on the concave side of a 
:k 
