An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

82 BOOT AN.was no less surprised to hear that, with us, almost every quarter ofthe globe, contributed to a very moderate repast." My food," says he," consists of the simplest articles ;grain, roots of the earth, and fruits.I never eat of any thing that has had breath ; for so I should be theindirect cause of putting an end to the existence of animal life,which,by our religion, isstrictly forbidden."After his meal, he drank tea out of a sort of china cup, which onlythe sovereign Lama has a right to use : it would be little less thansacrilege, were any other person to drink from one of thesame form.He favoured us with some dried coagulated milk, fried in butter, but ofso stubborn a substance, that I suppose no process could ever tend tomollify it; I did not deem it safe, therefore, to submit it to the powersof digestion. He sent us also a piece of some boiled root : it wassmall, white, and knotty, of a sweetish taste, and reckoned nutritive.A small quantity of honey, that accompanied this present, gave riseto a conversation on bees. I described to him the mode of hivingthem in England, and our profitable management of thatindustriousrace.He said, that the common people, in his country, were at somepains in the encouragement of bees, and at a proper season collectedtheir honey and wax. We had repeatedly seen large cakes of thecomb, pendant from the projecting balconies, to the bottom of whichthey were attached, hanging always clear of the wall.Their thicknessseldom exceeded six inches :every subsequent addition contributed toincrease their breadth or length.The form was irregular, but I think Ihave seen them three or four feet long. Their being allowed to remain