e to our people, who would much rather have had to do with us
than with a Mandarin.

The town of Lithang is built on the sides of a hill which rises in the
middle of a plain, broad but almost sterile. Nothing grows there but a
little barley, and a few poor herbs, which serve for pasturage to some
miserable herds of goats and yaks. Seen from a distance, the town has
some promise. Two large Lamaseries, richly painted and gilt, which are
built quite on the top of the hill, especially contribute to give it an
imposing aspect. But, when you pass through the interior, you find
nothing but ugly, dirty, narrow streets, so steep, that your legs must be
accustomed to mountain travelling, to keep their equilibrium. This side
of the River of Gold-dust, you observe among the tribes a rather
remarkable modification in the manners, customs, costume, and even in the
language. You see that you are no longer in Thibet, properly so called.
As you approach the frontiers of China, the natives have less ferocity
and rudeness in their character; you find them more covetous, flattering,
and cunning; their religious faith is no longer so vivid, nor so frank.
As to the language, it is no longer the pure Thibetian that is spoken at
Lha-Ssa, and in the province of Kham; it is a dialect closely connected
with the idiom of the Si-Fan, and in which you remark various Chinese
expressions. The Thibetians of Lha-Ssa who accompanied us had the
greatest difficulty in the world in understanding and being understood.
The costume, for the most part, only differs as to the head-dress. The
men wear a hat of grey or brown felt, somewhat similar to our own felt
hats when they first come from the hatter's board and have not been
rounded to the form. The women form with their hair a number of small
tresses, which flow over their shoulders. They then place on their heads
a large silver plate, somewhat similar to a dinner-plate. The more
elegant wear two of these, one on each side, so that the two ends meet
above the head. The precept of daubing the face with black, does not
apply to the women of Lithang. This kind of toilet operates only in the
countries temporally subject to the Tale-Lama.

The most important of the Lamaseries of Lithang possesses a great
printing press for Buddhic books, and it is hither that, on holidays, the
Lamas of the neighbouring countries come for their supplies. Lithang
carries on also a large trade in gold dust, in chaplets