United States or Jersey ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The tsamba, however, was only to enable them to "carry on" until we killed some game; for meat is the Mongols' "staff of life," and they care little for anything except animal food. The evening hunt yielded no results. Two of the Mongols had missed a bear, I had seen a roebuck, and the old man had lost a wounded musk deer on the mountain ridge above the camp.
I have hardly ever enjoyed a meal more, though the Lamas stuffed the food down my throat with their unwashed fingers so fast that they nearly choked me. "Eat, eat as much as you can," said they, grimly, "for it may be your last meal." And eat I did, and washed the tsamba down with quantities of buttered tea, which they poured into my mouth carelessly out of the raksang.
I am greatly obliged for his kindness, but we will continue our journey." "Then," angrily said a young and powerful Tibetan, "if you continue your journey, we will take back our gifts." "And your kata!" I rejoined, flinging first the large ball of butter into his chest, and after it the small bags of flour, tsamba, cheese, fruit, etc., a minute earlier prettily laid out before us.
In the breast of his loose coat, which acts as a pocket, he carries a remarkable assortment of things; a pipe, tobacco, tea, tsamba, cooking pots, a snuff box and, hanging down in front, a metal charm to protect him from bullets or sickness. The eastern Tibetans are men of splendid physique and great strength, and are frequently more than six feet in height.
On perceiving how thirsty and hungry I was, not only did this good man refill the cup time after time until my thirst was quenched, but he mixed with it tsamba and lumps of butter, which he then stuffed into my mouth with his fingers.
He asked me what I wanted to eat. I said I should like some meat and tea. A little later a large vessel with a delicious stew of yak meat was brought to me, as well as tsamba in abundance. I felt famished, but I had the greatest difficulty in swallowing even a little food.
They even prevailed upon their masters to sell us a little tsamba and butter. When a Tibetan young man wishes to marry, he goes, accompanied by his father and mother, to the tent of the lady of his heart. There he is received by her relations, who have been previously notified of the intended call, and are found seated on rugs and mats awaiting the arrival of their guests.
Word Of The Day