A commotion--An invitation declined--The tents--Delicacies--The
_Chokseh_.
WE wanted food, and so made boldly for the encampment. Our approach
caused a great commotion, and yaks and sheep were hastily driven away
before us, while men and women rushed in and out of their tents,
apparently in a state of much excitement. Eight or ten men reluctantly
came forward and entreated us to go inside a large tent. They said they
wished to speak to us, and offered us tea. I would not accept their
invitation, distrusting them, but went on across the encampment, halting
some three hundred yards beyond it. Chanden Sing and I proceeded
afterwards on a round of calls at all the tents, trying to purchase food
and also to show that, if we had declined to enter a particular tent, it
was not on account of fear, but because we did not want to be caught in a
trap. Our visit to the different _golingchos_ or _gurr_ (tents) was
interesting enough. The tents themselves were very cleverly constructed,
and admirably adapted to the country in which they were used; and the
various articles of furniture inside attracted my curiosity. The tents,
black in colour, were woven of yaks' hair, the natural greasiness of
which made them quite waterproof. They consisted of two separate pieces
of this thick material, supported by two poles at each end, and there was
an oblong aperture above in the upper part of the tent, through which the
smoke could escape. The base of the larger tents was hexagonal in shape:
the roof, generally at a height of six or seven feet above the ground,
was kept very tightly stretched by means of long ropes passing over high
poles and pegged to the ground. Wooden and iron pegs were used for this
purpose, and many were required to keep the tent close to the ground all
round, so as to protect its inmates from the cutting winds of the great
plateau. Long poles, as a rule numbering four, with white flying prayers,
could be seen outside each tent, or one to each point of the compass, the
East being taken for a starting-point. Around the interior of the larger
tents there was a mud wall from two to three feet high, for the purpose
of further protection against wind, rain and snow. These walls were
sometimes constructed of dried dung, which, as time went on, was used for
fuel. There were two apertures, one at either end of the tent; that
facing the wind being always kept closed by means of loops and wooden
bolts.
[Illustration: BLACK TENT]
The Tibetan is a born nomad, and shifts his dwelling with the seasons, or
wherever he can find pasture for his yaks and sheep; but, though he has
no fixed abode, he knows how to make himself comfortable, and he carries
with him all that he requires. Thus, for instance, in the centre of his
tent, he begins by making himself a _goling_, or fireplace of mud and
stone, some three feet high and four or five long, by one and a half
wide, with two, three, or more side ventilators and draught-holes. By
this ingenious contrivance he manages to increase the combustion of the
dried dung, the most trying fuel from which to get a flame. On the top of
this stove a suitable place is made to fit the several _raksangs_, or
large brass pots and bowls, in which the brick tea, having been duly
pounded in a stone or wooden mortar, is boiled and stirred with a long
brass spoon. A portable iron stand is generally to be seen somewhere in
the tent, upon which the hot vessels are placed, as they are removed from
the fire. Close to these is the _toxzum_ or _dongbo_, a cylindrical
wooden churn, with a lid through which a piston passes. This is used for
mixing the tea with butter and salt, in the way I have described as also
adopted by the Jogpas.
[Illustration: A DONGBO OR TEA CHURN]
The wooden cups or bowls used by the Tibetans are called _puku, fruh_, or
_cariel_, and in them _tsamba_ is also eaten after tea has been poured on
it, and the mixture worked into a paste by means of more or less dirty
fingers. Often extra lumps of butter are mixed with this paste, and even
bits of _chura_ (cheese). The richer people (officials) indulge in flour
and rice, which they import from India and China, and in _kassur_, or
dried fruit (namely, dates and apricots) of inferior quality. The rice is
boiled into a kind of soup called the _tukpa_, a great luxury only
indulged in on grand occasions, when such other cherished delicacies as
_gimakara_ (sugar) and _shelkara_ (lump white sugar) are also eaten. The
Tibetans are very fond of meat, though few can afford such an
extravagance. Wild game, yak and sheep are considered excellent food, and
the meat and bone cut in pieces are boiled in a cauldron with lavish
quantities of salt and pepper. The several people in a tent dip their
hands into the pot, and having picked up suitable pieces, tug at them
with their teeth and fingers, grinding even the bone, meat eaten without
bone being supposed to be difficult to digest.
The Tibetan tents are usually furnished with a few _tildih_ (rough
sitting-mats) round the fireplace, and near the entrance of the tent
stands a _dahlo_, or basket, in which the dung is stored as collected.
These _dahlos_, used in couples, are very convenient for tying to
pack-saddles, for which purpose they are specially designed. Along the
walls of the tent are the _tsamgo_ or bags of _tsamba_, and the _dongmo_
or butter-pots, and among masses of sheepskins and blankets can be seen
the little wooden chests in which the store of butter is kept under lock
and key.
[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF A TENT]
The first thing that strikes the eye on entering a Tibetan tent is the
_chokseh_ or table, upon which are lights and brass bowls containing
offerings to the _Chogan_, the gilt god to whom the occupiers of the
_gurr_ (tent) address their morning and evening prayers. Prayer-wheels
and strings of beads are plentiful, and lashed upright to the poles are
the long matchlocks belonging to the men, their tall props projecting
well out of the aperture in the roof of the tent. Spears are kept in a
similar manner, but the swords and smaller knives are carried about the
person all day, and laid on the ground by the side of their owners at
night.
[Illustration: TSAMGO]
[Illustration: SMALL TSAMBA BAG, CARRIED ON THE PERSON BY TIBETANS]