real ones. I was particularly fortunate, and during my journey in
Tibet I was able to purchase as many as twelve, two of which were
extremely old.

[Illustration: PRAYER-WHEELS--ANCIENT AND MODERN. SHOWING ROLLS OF
PRAYERS TO GO INSIDE]

Besides the rosary, which the Lamas always use in a similar way to the
Roman Catholics, they have a brass instrument which they twist between
the palms of their hands while saying prayers, and this is used
exclusively by Lamas. It is from 21/2 to 3 inches in length, and is rounded
so as to be easily held in the hollow of the two hands.

In Tibet, as in other Buddhist countries, there are nunneries besides
lamaseries. The nuns, most unattractive in themselves, shave their heads
and practise witchcraft and magic, just as the Lamas do. They are looked
down upon by the masses. In some of these nunneries strict _clausura_ is
enforced, but in most of them the Lamas are allowed free access, with the
usual result, that the nuns become the concubines of the Lamas. Even
apart from this, the women of the nunneries are quite as immoral as their
brethren of the lamaseries, and at their best they are but a low type of
humanity.

The Lamas who, at certain periods of the year, are allowed an unusual
amount of freedom with women, are those who practise the art of making
musical instruments and eating-vessels out of human bones. The skull is
used for making drinking-cups, _tsamba_ bowls, and single and double
drums, and the humerus, femur, and tibia bones are turned into trumpets
and pipes. These particular Lamas are said to relish human blood, which
they drink out of the cups made from men's skulls.

[Illustration: STONE WITH INSCRIPTION]

CHAPTER XLVIII

Illnesses and remedies--Curious theories about fever--Evil
spirits--Blacksmith and dentist--Exorcisms--Surgical
operations--Massage and cupping--Incurable
illnesses--Deformities--Deafness--Fits and
insanity--Melancholia--Suicides.

THE Lamas became quite communicative, enabling me, partly with the little
Hindustani that I knew and partly with the Tibetan I had picked up, to
enter into a conversation about illnesses and their remedies, certain as
I was that they must have strange notions on the subject. I was not
disappointed in this surmise, and from that conversation and my own
observation on previous and subsequent occasions, I am able to give a few
details of the methods of the Lamas in curing the more fre