Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/65

This page has been validated.
THE TIBETAN FOOTHILLS
53

Wa, wa, 㗏, is the call used to make mules and oxen stand still. The aboriginal tribes have names for each mule in the caravan.

Ch‘a, ch‘a, 吒, is the sound used when driving an ox or mule. Horses do not seem to be so addressed.

When ploughing the following are the cries used to the ox; chuan ying 轉英 turn round; shangying go on the sward, and hsiaying go in the furrow; ts‘ai kou 跴溝 go along the furrow.

Noises made by hawkers, etc., are as follows; the oilseller beats a small gong, ch‘iao tang tang 敲鐺; the bean-curd seller strikes a hollow bamboo pang pang 梆; the condiment seller strikes a brass mirror yün pan 雲板; the tinker or scissor-grinder shakes clappers of iron yao ching kuei 搖驚閨 'to arouse the women-folk'; the castrater strikes a gong ma lo 馬鑼 of the same size as the tang tang, but with a stronger sound; the itinerant fortune-teller beats two pieces of bamboo together, san ts‘ai pan 三才板; the pedlar rings a bell, p‘eng tang ku 弸鐺鼓, and the vendor of sticking-plaster sounds a fish drum, ta yü ku 打漁鼓.