mornings; and in their long journeys over the bleak mountains, where water is frequently not to be got until they reach their encamping ground, they take a dish of tea before starting, which, they say, is an excellent preventative against thirst. The tea* is purchased at Garoo, and comes from a long distance on the S. E.; it has little flavour, and they prepare it by an infusion of boiling water, and use butter, salt, spices, and a little meal, instead of milk and sugar; they stir it about with a stick, resembling the kind used in India for spruce beer. The tea-pot is of pewter, exactly like ours in shape; and the tea is poured out into China cups, or what is more preferred, bowls, of a beautiful marled kind of wood, lined with silver.

During my stay at Soongnum, Putee Ram insisted on bringing me daily tea, prepared after the Tartar fashion, which tastes like soup, and I took a great liking to it. The Tartars drink it in large quantities; and when they arrive at their encamping ground, their first occupation is to make the tea: they always offered me a cup, which I seldom refused. When a person reaches a Tartar village, he is asked to take a dish of tea, which is kept ready most part of the day.

SHEPHERDS.

The high country between Koonawur and Garoo, together with the part of Ludak, is inhabited by shepherds, called Dokpo, who dwell in tents, do not

Mr. Fraser says the leaves of the tea are eaten, but I asked Putee Ram particularly, and he assured me that he never heard of such a custom.

cultivate the ground,* and subsist by their flocks, Here permanent habitations are rare, and there are none in the district called Choomoortee, which is put down in the maps as the name of a village only. Houses are so uncommon in this quarter, that one tract, where they are more usual than tents, is denominated Yool-Choomoortee; the first word signifying village, as being something remarkable.

The shepherds roam about from place to place, wherever they can find water and good pasturage for their numerous herds of sheep, goats, yaks, and horses. I saw several of the tents, which are comfortable enough. They are made of black yak'shair blankets, and are twenty or thirty feet long, ten broad, and six or seven high; they are double poled, with round ends, and the tent ropes are of goats' or yaks' hair.

The sheep are large, hardy, and are used in transporting merchandise: they take twenty pounds weight over very bad roads. I had a large flock of them to carry grain from Ropa to Speetee, and they always reached the encamping ground at the same time as myself, and outstripped the loaded people by many hours.

The fleece of those of Chinese Tartary, which is called Beangee, is long, fine, and extremely warm : it is now brought in quantities by the Koonawurees to Rampoor for the British Government.

The shawl wool Lena, so well known, is the produce of the goats of the same country. It used to

* It would, perhaps, be more proper to say, cannot cultivate the ground, which is too elevated and arid for grain of any description.

The Shaw wool is the fleece of the goat, next the skin only; the outer

be a prevalent opinion that these goats were found in Kashmere; but that celebrated valley is far too warm and damp for them. The best shawl wool is produced in the vicinity of Garoo, Mansurowur, and the elevated lands to the eastward.

According to some old agreement which Mr. Moorcroft mentions, the shawl wool all went to Ludak, and from thence to Kashmere; and it is even taken to that place from so great a distance as the eastward of Teshoo Loomboo. The Koonawurees were not allowed to purchase it openly, but they smuggled it in small quantities of two and three pounds each person. However, since the British have thought it worth their while to buy it, the Chinese have not been so scrupulous, and they now sell it to the highest bidder. Last year one person from Namgea Lache, a country on the bank of the Brahmapootra, eighteen days journey S.E. of Mansurowur, brought about twelve hundred weight of it; and the trade is on the increase.

The Koonawurees also find it to their advantage to extend their commerce in wool, and have lately been improving some of the most frequented roads through their country. This last year I noticed several places that were formerly scarcely practicable for travellers, which had been repaired so as to be passable with some difficulty by loaded sheep, several of which were brought in 1820 to Rampoor, which had scarcely ever been attempted before. A few of them were lost by tumbling down precipices;

coat is coarse hair, and the two colours are white and light brown. The dogs of Tartary have also a soft down below the hair, very little inferior to that of the goats.

but the people told me they intended to make the roads better, although they would require much time and frequent repairs, from being destroyed by the falling rocks.

In this elevated region, wild horses, Keang, asses, Goorkhur, and yaks, Dong, besides innumerable hares and deer, are plentiful; all of which are killed and eaten by the Bhoteeas. The wild yaks are larger than the domestic ones, and are all black; they go in large droves, are extremely fierce, and sometimes dangerous to travellers. Captain Turner mentions the wild horse under the name of Goorkhaw; but he says it had long ears, and he only saw it with his glass at a distance, so it was probably the ass, which is called either Goorkur or Goorkha.

There is a sect of wandering Tartars called Khampa, who are in some respects similar to the Jogees of Hindoostan. They visit the sacred places, and many of them subsist wholly by begging. Some are very humorous fellows; they put on a mask, perform a dance, singing and accompanying it with a drum, or they play, sing, and dance, all at once, holding the fiddle above the head, behind the back, and in a variety of other strange positions.

Since the British Government have got possession of the Hills, Khampas come down in crowds to visit the holy places to the westward.

RELIGION.

The religion is Lama, and they are very superstitious, paying great regard to lucky and unlucky days. The Lamas in Koonawur are of three sects,

Geloopa, Dookpa, and Neengma; but I could not hear of that called Shammar by Captain Turner.

The Geloopas or Gelookpas are reckoned the highest; since the heads of their religion at Teshoo Loomboo and Lahassa are of the same sect. They wear yellow cloth garments, and caps of the same of various shapes.*

The Dookpas are dressed indifferently, but have red caps; and the Neengmas wear the same, or go bare headed the two former do not marry, but there is no restriction on the Neengmas.

The Lamas admit proselytes at all ages, and any person can become a Dookpa, Geloopa, or Neengma, at his pleasure; they are commonly initiated at the age of 7 or 10, and the Chief Gelong of Kanum said he would admit me, although I came from a different country.

All the Lamas can read and write, and I never saw one who did not instantly recognize the few sentences in Captain Turner's Thibet. In the upper parts of Koonawur it is common for one person from each house to be educated to the church, which is likewise the case in Thibet.

The Lamas wear necklaces of two sorts of beads, Raksha and Tha, the seed of some plant; these necklaces contain 108 beads, which is reckoned a sacred number.

There are two other sects peculiar to Chinese Tartary, Sakeea, who wear red, and Deegooma, yellow caps.

The Lamas assemble in their temples twice or

The yellow is the favourite colour of the Emperor of China.