The interior of a _serai_--Vermin--Fish, local jewellery, and
pottery for sale--Favourite shapes and patterns--How pottery is
made.
OUR abode was a one-storeyed house built of stones and mud with a flat
roof. There were two rooms, the first lighted by the door, the second and
larger having a square aperture in the ceiling for the triple purpose of
ventilation, lighting and outlet for the smoke of the fire, which burnt
directly underneath in the centre of the room. The beams and rafters
supporting the roof had been brought over from the other side of the
Himahlyas, as no wood is to be found in Western Tibet.
This _serai_ was in charge of a young, half-demented lama, who was most
profuse in salutations, and who remained open-mouthed, gazing at us for a
considerable time. He was polite and attentive in helping to dry our
things in the morning, and, whenever we asked for anything, he ran out of
the _serai_ in frantic fits of merriment, always bringing in what we
required.
[Illustration: SILVER LHASSA COINS]
The heavy storm during the night had flooded our room, and there was only
one corner slightly drier than the rest of the floor, where we all slept
huddled together. These _serais_ have no claim to cleanliness, and on
this occasion all the minor animal life that inhabited the floor had,
with a view to avoiding the water, retreated to the higher portion of the
room, which we also had selected, so that one more trial was added to
all our other miseries, for we were half devoured by a variety of
"insects." This, indeed, was a dreadful pest, and one from which we
suffered indescribable agonies, not only on this occasion but whenever we
halted near Tibetan camps. When we rose in the morning the room was full
of Tibetan men, women and children, who seemed very good-natured and
friendly.
[Illustration: COPPER COINS]
[Illustration: EARRING WORN BY MEN]
[Illustration: SILVER CHARM]
[Illustration: GOLD AND MALACHITE BROOCH]
"_Tanga chick!_" (a silver coin equivalent to half a rupee) cried an old
woman, who stuck a dried fish under my nose, professing volubly that it
had been caught in Mansarowar, and that it would make its possessor the
happiest of mortals. Others unrolled, from pieces of red cloth, jewellery
in the form of brooches, rings, and earrings of brass or silver inlaid
with malachite.
"_Gurmoh sum!_" (three rupees), "_Diu, diu, diu_" ("Yes yes, yes"),
"_Karuga ni!_" (two two-anna pieces), "_Gientcheke!_" (a four-anna
piece), and so on, all talking at the same time, in their anxiety to
dispose of their goods.
The jewellery was of local manufacture, and in some cases the pieces of
malachite were firmly set, but usually a kind of paste is used for
holding the stones, and consequently, pretty as the jewels are, they soon
break.
The earrings are usually better made than the brooches, but the most
interesting of all, because simpler and more characteristic, are the flat
silver charms, such as the one I give in the illustration, ornamented
with a primitive design. This particular one, which is now in my
possession is of great antiquity, the edges being much worn down. It has
the lotus pattern in the centre and leaf ornamentations filled in with
lines radiating from a parent stem. Concentric circles occupy the inner
square, which also contains circular dots in sets of threes and
contiguous semicircles. Triangles filled in with parallel lines are a
favourite form of ornamentation in Tibetan work, and, perhaps, most
popular of all in the mind of the Tibetan artist is the square or the
lozenge outline, with a special inclination towards purely geometrical
patterns, a tradition probably inherited from their Mongol ancestors.
The most interesting objects to me at Tucker were the specimens of
pottery made by the natives, which is manufactured from clay of fine
quality, although it is not properly beaten previous to being worked into
vases, jugs, &c. Moulds are used to fashion the bases of the larger
vessels and the inner part is shaped by the hand; a rough turning-machine
simplifies the finishing of the upper part of the vase, leaving it
comparatively smooth. Two handles with rough line ornamentations are
added to the larger vessels, but one suffices for the jars with longer
neck and small aperture.
The two patterns reproduced in the illustration are those more commonly
adopted; the colour is a light greyish terra-cotta, left fairly smooth
and unvarnished. They are well burnt, in primitive furnaces, the Lamas
showing much skill in the manufacture of these vessels, which find a
ready market among the pilgrims to the sacred lake. The tools used in
fashioning the vessels are extremely simple; a piece of flat stone, and
two or three wands of wood, beyond which the Tucker potter does not
really require more than his fingers and his nails to accomplish his
work.
[Illustration: MANSAROWAR POTTERY]