TI BE T. 
2,33 
public business of importance; and indeed between people of every 
rank and station in life, the presenting a silk scarf, constantly forms an 
essential part of the ceremonial of salutation. If persons of equal rank 
meet, an exchange takes place: if a superior is approached, he holds 
out his hand to receive the scarf, and a similar one is thrown across 
the shoulders of the inferior by the hand of an attendant, at the moment 
of his dismission. The colour that is employed on this occasion, is 
either white, or crimson; but the latter is least frequently used, white 
appearing to have an universal preference. This manufacture is of a 
thin texture, resembling that sort of Chinese stuff' called pelong, and 
is remarkable for the purity of its glossy whiteness. They are com¬ 
monly damasked, and the sacred words, Oom maunee paimee oom , are 
usually interwoven near both ends, which terminate in a fringe. They 
differ materially in size and quality, and are commonly proportioned, 
by him who presents, to his own condition, and the degree of respect 
he means to pay his guest. Trivial and unmeaning as this custom may 
appear to Europeans, long and general practice has here attached to 
it the highest importance. I could obtain no determinate information 
as to its meaning or origin, but I find that it has indeed a most exten¬ 
sive prevalence. It is observed, as I have before noticed, in all the 
territory of the Daeb Raja; it obtains throughout Tibet; it extends 
from Turkistan to the confines of the Great Desert; it is practised in 
China, and, I doubt not, reaches to the limits of Mantchieux Tartary. 
I view it merely in the light of an emblem of friendship, and a pledge 
of amity. In the course of my travels, every person who visited me, 
observed this mode of salutation; and as we were among a people not 
