n 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]

CHAPTER LXIV

Refusal to sell food--Women--Their looks and characteristics--The
_Tchukti_--A Lhassa lady.

THE inhabitants of this encampment were polite and talkative.
Notwithstanding their refusal to sell us food on the plea that they had
none even for themselves, their friendliness was so much beyond my
expectation that I at first feared treachery. However, treachery or not,
I thought that while I was there I had better see and learn as much as I
could. Women and men formed a ring round us, and the fair sex seemed less
shy than the stronger in answering questions. I was particularly struck,
not only in this encampment but in all the others, by the small number of
women to be seen in Tibet. This is not because they are kept in
seclusion; on the contrary, the ladies of the Forbidden Land seem to have
it all their own way. They are actually in an enormous minority, the
proportion being, at a rough guess, backed by the wise words of a
friendly Lama, from fifteen to twenty males to each female in the
population; nevertheless, the fair sex in Hundes manages to rule the male
majority, playing thereby constantly into the hands of the Lamas.

The Tibetan female, whether she be a lady, a shepherdess, or a
brigandess, cannot be said to be prepossessing. In fact, it was not my
luck to see a single good-looking woman in the country, although I
naturally saw women who were less ugly than others. Anyhow, with the
accumulated filth that from birth is undisturbed by soap, scrubbing or
bathing; with nose, cheeks and forehead smeared with black ointment to
prevent the skin cracking in the wi