He Was Dressed Like The Others In A
Girdled Chaga Of Coarse Serge, But Wore A Red Cap Turned Up Over The
Ears With Fine Fur, A Silver Inkhorn, And A Yarkand Knife In A Chased
Silver Sheath In His Girdle, And Canary-Coloured Leather Shoes With
Turned-Up Points.
The people prepared one of their own tents for me,
and laying down a number of rugs of their
Own dyeing and weaving,
assured me of an unbounded welcome as a friend of their 'benefactor,'
Mr. Redslob, and then proposed that I should visit their tents
accompanied by all the elders of the tribe.
CHAPTER V - CLIMATE AND NATURAL FEATURES
The last chapter left me with the chief and elders of the Chang-pas
starting on 'a round of visits,' and it was not till nightfall that
the solemn ceremony was concluded. Each of the fifty tents was
visited: at every one a huge, savage Tibetan mastiff made an attempt
to fly at me, and was pounced upon and held down by a woman little
bigger than himself, and in each cheese and milk were offered and
refused. In all I received a hearty welcome for the sake of the
'great father,' Mr. Redslob, who designated these people as 'the
simplest and kindliest people on earth.'
This Chang-pa tribe, numbering five hundred souls, makes four moves
in the year, dividing in summer, and uniting in a valley very free
from snow in the winter. They are an exclusively pastoral people,
and possess large herds of yaks and ponies and immense flocks of
sheep and goats, the latter almost entirely the beautiful 'shawl
goat,' from the undergrowth at the base of the long hair of which the
fine Kashmir shawls are made.
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