Clothes. — Tibetans of the higher class wear Chinese satins;iu the warmer seasons, and the same lined with fur in the cold ; all others wear woollens in the warm, furs and sheep-skins in t,he cold weather, and never go about without boots. The common people never wash during the cold season ; very sparingly at other times. The reason given for this being that the skin of the face cracks and ulcerates from the cold, if water is applied to it. The people of towns, who do not go much outside the house, wash occasionally, but the prejudice is strong against ablutions of the person, and it is equally extended to their clothing, which is worn in a filthy and greasy state. Soap is high priced, but little used in Tibet. There is in the country a plant resembling grass, the root of which, pounded with water, makes a lather, and is used for washing clothes.
The tea trade of Tibet is carried on in the form of blocks, weighing about 8 lbs., and which sell at from 12 to 48 shillings each.
Populaiion in Tibet is sparse, the greater portion of the inhabitantsliying at heights varying between 9000 and 11,000 feet. Leh, the capital of Ladakh, aud one of the most important commercial places of Western Tibet, lies 11,527 feet above the level of the sea. Gartok, on the Indus, is at a height of 15,090 feet Every year, in August, a large fair is held there by several thousands of natives from almost every part of the Himalaya and Central Asia. The people encamp in the black or coloured cloth tents. This is certainly the greatest height at which man is known to congregate for mercantile purposes. Some of the other Tibetan summer villages, as Norbu (15,946 feet) and Paga (15,264 feet), aro built on sites near which salt and borax are foluid, and serve only as occasional sheltering-places to shepherds.
Tibet has long been famous throughout Asia, and even in Europe, for its numerous herds of sheep, and the superior quality of the wool which they provide ; with the rearing of these herds many of its inhabitants are exclusively occupied. In sununer, the flocks are driven to pasture grounds, some of which reach an elevation of 15,000 to 16,349 feet, beyond which the Tibetan shepherds never venture.
In the Konen Lun, even the foot of its southern (Tibetan) slopes is so elevated, that no villages or pasture grounds exist at all. On its northern slopes., 9400 feet is the limit of permanently inhabited villages (Bushia, 9310 feet) ; summer villages reach about 10,200 feet ; and pasture grounds do not occur above 13,000 feet Religions. —Buddhism is the prevailing form.
The people of . Ladakh are Buddhists ; those of Little Tibet are Shish Muhammadans. Lama is the title of the monastic priesthood. In Tibet there are two ruling Lamas, the Dalai and the Teshu Lama. The former is the chief, and resides at Lhassa • the latter, the inferior, in the lamasery of Tesliu Lumbo, near the town of Shigatze, on the river Sanpu or Brahmaputra, in the south of Tibet. The ordinary monk or priest in Tibet is the Gylong, above whom are the Lama or presidents, and below whom are the Tohba and Tappa. The Tuppa is a pro bationer who is admitted into the establish ment, to which he would attach himself at the age of 8 or 10, and receives instruction accord ingly. At 15 he becomes a Tohba, and at 24 a Gylong, provided his acquirements bo satis factory. There are two sects, the Gyllupka, who dress in yellow, and the Shammar in red, the Shammar Gylong being allowed to marry.
Besides their Lamas, the Tibetan Buddhists have large numbers of nuns among them who are not, however, subjected to restraint', but work actively in the fields, and one of them took service for a short distance as a coolie -with Captain Knight's party. Slavery is a Tibetan institution. Polyandry is common.
Language.—Brother H. A. Jaschke of Herrn bath finished the Tibetan-English Dictionary, on which he was engaged on behalf of the India Office for a period of eight years. Alexander Csoma de Koros dwelt for many years in Tibet, writing a dictionary. The sacred books of Tibet are in 100 to 108 vols. folio.
In Tibet, the cycle of Jupiter, Vrihaspati Chakra, is used. Their epoch occurs in A.D. 1025. Csotna de Koros mentions that in the Tibetan sacred books, three periods of their com pilation are expressly stated, first under Sakya (B.c. 638 to 543) ; then under Asoka, king of Pataliputra 110 years after the decease of Sakya; lastly by Kanishka, upwards of 400 years after Sakya, Boom, a Tibetan work in 12 volumes, contains tracts of the Elupka section.
Fairs.—There are twelve great annual festivals, ,viz. Bumteung, Kausupecha, Chushupecha, Gesu pecha, Nesupecha, Gosungpecha, Gyajipecha, Lallupecha, Chindupeeha, Dudupecha, Kagyur pecha, Lukphopecha. On the anniversary of the death of a chief Lama of a Cumin, there is a great festival and illumination. At Teshu Lumbu, three such are held annually. The Lhassea Moran festival of M. Huc is properly called the Lha-sa ,Meuhlum. It is the anniversary of the first proclamation of the religion of Buddha by Sakya at Lhassa.