The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-05

their changing housemates. The com
parative infrequency Of friction IL attributed
10 the fact that more than one husband Ia
seldom in the house at time. II there are
three sons in family. for instance, the
third will become a lama or monk, the
eldest will remain chiefly at home, and the
second son will tend the focks on the graz
ing grounds, or carry their wool TO the
nearest market. The two lay brothers,
therefore. seldom meet. and the polyan-
drous wife apparently chooses which OF the
two she would rather look after for the
moment
One noticeable outcome OF the custom is
that the women have developed a dis
tinctly stronger character than the men
No laynan or laywoman. OF course. has any
opportunity TO exercise public influence;
that ia reserved exclusively for the Lamas.
In the realm OF commerce, however. the
women are usually supreme Suoh, at all
events, was Mr. Landon's experience. both
at Gyantse and at Lhasa. 1t was the woman
who managed the family trading, and II
the man took any part in IL it was only
to help carry the goods backward and for
ward between the bazaar and the town.
Our author has sometimes known a woman
refer 10 her husband before she would sell
an unusually good turquoise studded charm
box or other jewel. but as a rule she would
dispose OF the household possessions with
out consulting anybody. To any one who
knows India, this independence of attitude
on the part OF the Tibetan wife exemplfes
the vast social difference marked by the
barrier of the Hmalayas. We are told
that some of the Tibetan women belon ging
to the lower classes are not bad looking
though beneath the dirt allowed to accumu-
late for years. Il Ia impossible TO do more
than guess at their complexion lady
belonging to an aristocratio Lhasan family
is described az Extremely handsome.
Our author had the good fortune TO see
something Of Tbetan homes, both lay and
clerical. He was entertained by a mag
nate who lived near Gyantse on the road
to Lhasa. Tea it seems, in Tibet, is sui
genera The decootion bears not the vaguest
semblanoe to the pale. &C nted beverage Of
China and Japan. nor to the milkless lemon
favored glassfuls Of Russia; still less to
the sugared slop one gets in London.
Tea Is imported in Tibet in the shape OF
bricks, which vary much in quality; they
are made in the Chinese province OF SEE
chuan. and the tea leaves are glued, with
something that looks like sawdust, into hard
blocks the grades of which are not easily
distinguishable by the foreigner. The
beverage is made as follows: corner Is
knocked on five-pound brick, and II Is
infused in boiling water in a teapot. The
infusion is then poured into a cylindrical
bamboo churn, and large lump Of salt
Ia churned up into it. The amount Of
energy spent upon this churning IL de-
scribed az extraordinary. The moment
the salt ia we'll stirred up in the beverage
pound Of butter is slid down into the
bamboo vessels. and another minutes
furious work produces the liquid as it is
drunk in Tibet. Our author says that. II
YOU are expecting the sweetened, milky
brew drunk in England. you will be disguised
when YOU put your lips to the thickish,
chocolate colored mess. 10 which little
-four is sometimes added 10 give il greater
consistency. II. on the other hand You will
regard il as a soup. you will find that it has
some sound qualities. After tea his Tibetan
hostess gave Mr.. Landon a luncheon. It
began with heaped bowlful OF boiled eggs,
These had to be eaten with the fingers.
as there are no spoons or forks in Tibet.
The next course was composed of sweet
chupatty like things. which had absolutely
no taste and were rather mealy in the mouth.
Then came little balls Of forcemeat skewered
by tours upon straw following dish
Of twenty different kinds of sweets did not
prepare Ms for the mono, which as the
Tibetan piece de resistance, we should have
waited for The mono are dumplinRs of
thick pudding wrapped around some ques-
H.
mixture Of suet and carrion was almost
more than he could stomach. On the
other hand, the host offered him drink
that he found extraordinarily good. II
was homemade whiskey. which had all the
peaty reek Of Irish potheen.
".
Mr.. Iandon does not attempt TO give a
full account Of either the written or spoken
language of Tibet With reference TO
the former however. he points out the
difficulty Of spelling. For example. the
province of -U- ia spelled Dbus,' and De
(rice) ia spelled "AbrasT 1t Is in this way
that the first syllable Of De-bung Monastery
is spelled. The spoken language Of Tibet
is entirely distinct from both Hindustani
and Chinese. 1t is an agglutinative. mono
syllable tongue: we are told that neither
the structure nor some acquaintance with
the remarkably large vocabulary Is diff
cult to acquire. The trouble IA that almost
from the outset the practical colloquial
language is found by the learner to be an
inextricable tangle OF idioms. Noticeable
is the indstinctness with which it is NUT
tered. II you were TO say to man delher-
atey and slowly the Tibetan words for
call me tomorrow morning at six o'clock
he would smile politely. but make not the
slightest attempt to understand; If, on the
other hand. you threw at him the same words
jumbled up in a polysyllabic. hyphenated
utterance, you would be instantly under
stood. 1t seems that some Tibetan words
are very impressive for example, duck
Is n mud fowl TO awaken is TO murder
sleep flower is a button tor canopy
Of fire. General is Lord Of the Arrow
Bribery could hardly be defined more neatly
than bv the Tihetan ssacret Dush A