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
nec