Tucker village--Chokdens--Houses--Flying prayers--Soldiers or
robbers?--A stampede--Fresh
provisions--Disappointment--Treachery--Shokas leave
me--Observations--Five men, all counted!
WHEN I left the Gomba, having been salaamed to the ground by my new
friends the Lamas, I walked about the village to examine all there was to
be seen.
Along the water's edge stood a number of dilapidated Chokdens made of mud
and stones, with a square base surmounted by a moulding, and an upper
decoration in steps, topped by a cylindrical column. They were in a row
at the east end of the village, and, as is well known, they are supposed
to contain a piece of bone, cloth or metal, and books or parts of them,
that had once belonged to a great man or a saint. Roughly drawn images
are occasionally found in them. In rare cases, when cremation has been
applied, the ashes are collected into a small earthenware urn, and
deposited in one of the Chokdens. The ashes are usually made into a paste
with clay, on which, when flattened like a medallion, a representation of
Buddha is either stamped from a mould, or engraved by means of a pointed
tool.
The interior of the houses at Tucker was no more pleasing than the
exterior. Each habitation had a walled courtyard, and the top of the
wall, as well as the edge of the flat roof, was lined with masses of
tamarisk for fuel. In the courtyard, sheep and goats were penned at
night; and the human beings who occupied the rooms were dirty beyond all
description. There were hundreds of flying prayers over the monastery as
well as over each house, and as the people stood on their roofs watching
us, laughing and chatting, the place had quite a gay aspect.
While I was strolling about some fifty or sixty men appeared on the
scene, armed with matchlocks and swords, and I looked upon them with
suspicion, but Kachi reassured me, and said they were not soldiers, but a
powerful band of robbers encamped about half a mile off, and on very
friendly terms with the Lamas. As a precaution, I loaded my rifle, which
was quite sufficient to occasion a stampede of the armed crowd, followed,
in the panic, by all the other villagers that had collected round us.
Like all Tibetans, they were a miserable lot, though powerfully built,
and with plenty of bounce about them.
[Illustration: THE PANKU GOMBA]
Early in the morning I had made inquiries about provisions, and had
arranged for the purchase of two fat sheep and some 450 lbs. of food
(flour, rice, _tsamba, ghur_, sugar, salt and butter), and several
Tibetans stated that they could supply me with any quantity I required.
Among others was a trader from Buddhi, Darcey Bura's brother, who
promised to bring me within an hour a sufficient quantity of food to last
us ten men twenty-five days. I noticed, when these men left, that two of
my Shokas ran after them, and entered into an excited discussion with
them. Some two or three hours later, the traders returned, swearing that
not an ounce of food could be obtained in the place. The way in which
these men could lie was indeed marvellous to study. I suspected
treachery, and reprimanded my Shokas, threatening to punish them very
severely if my suspicions proved to be well founded.
The Shokas, knowing themselves discovered, and partly through fear of the
Tibetans, were now again quite unreasonable and demoralised. It was no
use keeping them by force and I decided to discharge them. From the
moment I had entered the forbidden country I had been compelled to
protect myself against them as much as against the Tibetans. I reflected,
however, when I made up my mind to let them go, that these fellows had
stood for my sake hardships and privations which few men could stand; and
in paying them off I therefore rewarded them suitably, and they undertook
to bring back safely across the frontier part of my baggage containing
photographs, ethnological collections, &c. With infinite trouble I then
managed to purchase enough provisions to last five men ten days.
The whole party accompanied me three-and-a-quarter miles farther, where,
in sight of the tumble-down Panku Gomba, a mile to the West of us, we
halted in order to make the necessary arrangements for our parting,
unseen by the Tibetans. I took observations for latitude and longitude.
The water of the hypsometrical apparatus boiled at 185° Fahr. fifty feet
above the level of the lake, the temperature of the air being 76° and the
hour 10 A.M.
We had a high snowy chain to the South of us, extending from 70° to 33°
(b.m.), the direction of the range being approximately from South-West to
North-East, starting at Nimo Namgil.
When everything was ready, the five Shokas, including Kachi and Dola,
left me, swearing by the sun and all that they hold most sacred, that
they would in no way betray me to the Tibetans, who so far had no
suspicion as to who I was.
Bijesing the Johari and the Kutial Bura Nattoo agreed to accompany me as
far as the Maium Pass, so that my party, including myself, now was
reduced to only five.