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

BOO TAN. 193who, having laid down their loads, were sitting under cavitiesof therock, regaling themselves with tobacco, and very sociably puffing, andpushing about the pipe from one to another.They were mixed societies,generally consisting more of women than men; and they chattedtogether apparently in great good humour, and frequently joined inloud bursts of laughter. The disposition was contagious ; nor couldwe view so much honest mirth without a smile.We rested near one of these parties : I had carried a compass in myhand, and set it down by me to take bearings. One of the group advanced,and taking it up in his hand, viewed it with attention. Iexplained to him, as well as I could, the property of the needle ; andhe passed it to the rest of his comrades, who all considered it with thesame expressions of surprise ; it was afterwards returned very carefullyto the place, from whence it was taken. I never beheld a more Horidpicture of health than was exhibited in the complexion of the mountaineerswe met to-day;the women in particular, with their jet blackhair, and clear brisk, black eyes, had a ruddiness, which the mostflorid English rustic would in vain attempt to rival.We left on our right, a sort of rude hovel, which they called Gassa.It serves as a resting-place for travellers passing to and fro. Everyspecies of small and larger forest tree, we had now left behind us,and were to look down on thelower grounds for luxuriant vegetation.Nothing but docks and nettles decorate the ground about Gassa.The bleak and lofty summits of this and the adjacent mountains, givegrowth only to short herbage, with here and there a straggling barberrvbush.