r realised that I must stay
than presents of sweets, preserved fruit, dried dates, and tea were
brought for my acceptance--tea made in the Tibetan fashion with butter
and salt in it.

Even if at first I had had slight apprehensions at the expression of such
very unusual hospitality, these were soon dispelled, and I was proud to
be assured by my host that I was the first Englishman (or for that,
European or American) who had been allowed to enter the living part of a
Shoka house and partake of food in a Shoka dwelling. The opportunity was
too good to be lost, and I was sorely tempted to tarry among them, so as
really to get an insight into their mode of living, their customs and
manners.

[Illustration: SHOKA CHILD SMEARED WITH BUTTER WHICH IS LEFT TO BE
ABSORBED IN THE SUN]

CHAPTER XIII

Shoka hospitality--How I obtained much information--On a
reconnoitring trip--A terrible slide.

THEY are indeed Nature's gentlemen, these worthy Shokas, and as such they
did all in their power to make my stay among them pleasant. It was a
contest between them as to who should entertain me first, and who should
be the next. Invitations to breakfast and dinner literally poured in; and
those convenient "sick headaches," "colds," and "previous engagements,"
so opportune in more conventional parts, were of no avail here. No
card--no friendly note bade one to come and be merry. They generally
arrived _en masse_ to fetch me. Pulling and pushing played a not
unimportant part in their urging, and to decline was thus out of the
question. Indeed I must confess there was but little inclination to
decline on my part. When you arrived, your host spread out fine mats and
rugs, of Tibetan and ancient Chinese manufacture, and often of great
value. In front of a raised seat were displayed in shiny brass bowls the
various viands and delicacies which constituted the meal. There was rice
always; there was curried mutton, milk and curd with sugar; then
_chapatis_ made in Hindustani fashion and _Shale_, a kind of sweet
pancake made of flour, _ghi_ (butter), sugar or honey, also _Parsad_, a
thick paste of honey, burnt sugar, butter and flour, all well cooked
together--a dainty morsel even for a jaded palate.

I was invariably made to sit on the raised seat, which I did
cross-legged, while the crowd squatted respectfully on the floor round
the room, forming a semicircle with me in the center. I generally ate
with my fingers in their o