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

' Lassa,226 TIBET.Its superior pliability and warmth induce almost all the priests, bothhere and in Bootan, to use it for the short vest which they wear nextthe skin ; and those who can afford it, have also their winter mantleof the same.There may perhaps be something of economy in the preference;for I recollect that my Tibet guide rallied my Bootan attendant,with allthe pride of nationality, on the superior excellence of hiscloth, protesting that it would wear three times as long as the manufactureof Bootan; and telling us how long ithad been made, he opened,at the same time, his vest to shew it. I was not disposed to disputehis assertion, for it bore many visible marks of age. But the Tibetiansare great economists in their dress, which they always choose tomake of the most durable materials : the weight and thickness is neveriin objection. They are indeed accustomed to wear warm clothing;their summer dress being composed of woollen cloth, and their winter< dress of sheep or fox skins, cured with the hair on. I speak of thecommon people ; those who have the means, are dressed in silks andfurs. But for this manufacture, the valley of Jhansu, from its centralposition, is very conveniently situated, both as to receiving the matejrial, and conveying the cloth, when manufactured, to Teshoo Loomboo,*^'and Bootan. It has, in consequence, become the principal settlementof manufacturers ; and it certainly possesses every natural andessential advantage of space, climate, and fertility.We proceeded early the following morning, September the 20th,through fields of Lammas wheat, and passed close to the foot of therock, on which Jhansu-jeung is built. The road, inclining round it,opened suddenly upon a monastery, situated on the concave side of a