ivance 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 i