Their Hair Is Dressed Once A Month In Many
Much-Greased Plaits, Fastened Together At The Back By A Long Tassel.
The Head-Dress Is A Strip Of Cloth Or Leather, Sewn Over With Large
Turquoises, Carbuncles, And Silver Ornaments.
This hangs in a point
over the brow, broadens over the top of the head, and tapers as it
reaches the waist behind.
The ambition of every Tibetan girl is
centred in this singular headgear. Hoops in the ears, necklaces,
amulets, clasps, bangles of brass or silver, and various implements
stuck in the girdle and depending from it, complete a costume pre-
eminent in ugliness. The Tibetans are dirty. They wash once a year,
and, except for festivals, seldom change their clothes till they
begin to drop off. They are healthy and hardy, even the women can
carry weights of sixty pounds over the passes; they attain extreme
old age; their voices are harsh and loud, and their laughter is noisy
and hearty.
After leaving Shergol the signs of Buddhism were universal and
imposing, and the same may be said of the whole of the inhabited part
of Lesser Tibet. Colossal figures of Shakya Thubba (Buddha) are
carved on faces of rock, or in wood, stone, or gilded copper sit on
lotus thrones in endless calm near villages of votaries. Chod-tens
from twenty to a hundred feet in height, dedicated to 'holy' men, are
scattered over elevated ground, or in imposing avenues line the
approaches to hamlets and gonpos.
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