, duly pounded first 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 when they are removed from the fire. Close to these
is the _toxzum_ or _dongbo_, a cylindrical wooden churn, used for mixing
the tea with butter and salt.

The wooden cups or bowls used by the Tibetans are called _pu-ku_,
_fruh_, or _cariel_. In them _tsamba_ is eaten after tea has been poured
on it, and the mixture worked into a paste by more or less dirty
fingers. 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 (dates and apricots) of inferior quality. The rice is boiled into
a kind of soup called the _tupka_, a 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 fond
of meat, but few can afford to eat it. Wild game, yak, and sheep are
considered excellent food. The meat and bones are boiled in a cauldron
with lavish quantities of salt and pepper.

The inhabitants of this encampment were polite and talkative, but I was
suspicious of their friendliness. They refused to sell us food, on the
plea that they had none even for themselves.

Women and men formed a ring round us. I was particularly struck, not
only in this encampment but in all 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 a 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. All the same, the fair
sex in Tibet manages to rule the male majority, playing 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. 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