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

308 TIBET.pets above six feet long; drums stretched over a copper cauldron,such as are termed nowbut, in Hindostan ;the gong, a circular Chineseinstrument of thin hammered bell-metal, capable of producinga surprising sound;cymbals, hautboys; and a double drum, shallow,but of great circumference, mounted upon a tall, slender pedestal,which the performer turns with great facility, striking either sidewith a long curved iron, as the piece requires a higher, or a lowertone: these, together with the human tibia, and sea conch, a largespecies of the buccinum, compose, for the most part, their religiousband.Harsh as these instruments, individually taken, might sound toa musical ear, yet when joined together in unison, with the voices oftwo or three hundred boys and men, managed with varying modulation,from the lowest and softest cadence to the loudest swell, theyproduced to my ear an effect extremely grand.Other musical instruments are in the hands of the people of Tibet.The mother of Teshoo Lama, on my visit to her (which I shall particularlydescribe hereafter), sung to me a very pleasing air,which sheplayed at the same time on the guittar, her husband also accompanyingher with the flagelet.From many of the prejudices,essentially interwoven with the religionof the Hindoos, especially such as relate to their various andperplexing distinctions of casts, the Tibetian is almost entirely exempt.I was attended by them, with an assiduity and attention, that leftmelittle room to suspect the existence of such prejudices. I have beenserved with tea, from the same vessel with the sovereign Lama, forthis always constituted a part of the ceremonial, at every interview