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

TIBET. 303They are fed without distinction, wherever sufficient pasture is tobe found, but principally upon the short herbage, pccuHar to tiie sidesof eminences, and bleak, exposed plains. They are occasionally employedas beasts of burden ; and I have seen numerous flocks of themin motion, laden with salt and grain, each carrying from twelve totwenty pounds. They are the bearers of their own coats, to the. bestmarket, where it is usually fabricated into a narrow cloth resemblingfrieze, or a thick coarse blanket. When slaughtered, their skins arcmost commonly cured with the wool on, and form a most excellentwinter garment for the peasant, and the traveller.The skins of lambs are cured also with the wool on, and constitutea valuable article of traffic. In order to obtain the skin in its higheststate of excellency, the dam is sometimes killed before her time ofyeaning ;a cruel precaution, which secures, however, a silky softnessto the fleece, and stamps a very high price upon it, in this region,where the merit of good furs is well ascertained. It serves partiscularly for lining vests, and is in equal estimation all over Tartary;.it bears a very high price also in China. But powerful as the temptationis, I conclude from this circumstance, that the practice is notvery frequently adopted.The dryness of the atmosphere at this season, in Tibet, I thought,very remarkable; it had an eff"ect resembling that of the scorchingwinds which prevail, and blow over the sandy soil of Hindostan, oralong the shores of Coromandel. Vegetation is dried to brittleness,and every plant may be rubbed between the fingers into dust.Hence, the inhabitants have been compelled to adopt the precaution