hands, rubbed them with a kind of wood dust called sugpa[1] obtained from a plant growing in Tibet, and used instead of soap.
After dinner the Chyag-dso-pa made presents to the minister, consisting of blankets, Tibetan serge (pulo), three pieces of red, scarlet, and yellow English broadcloth, Gyantse rugs of superior quality, Khamba rugs, Chinese brocaded satin, spotted woollen chintz, about two bushels of tsamba, a large quantity of buckwheat cakes, twisted sugar cakes, loaves of bread, and three hundred tankas. The presentation of these gifts he accompanied by profound salutations, and the minister gave him his blessing, when he begged him to pray to the gods to make him prosperous and happy. After this he gave presents of about half the value to the Tung-chen, and so on, less and less, according to each one's rank; to me he gave two Gyantse rugs, two pieces of spotted pulo, and a khatag. Alms were also distributed among the monks and the minister's menials.
When the Chyag-dso Kusho had finished making all these presents he returned to the minister's room, where we were with him. In course of conversation he suggested the propriety of my presenting the Tashi lama with an elephant. He said that two had recently been sent by the Rajah of Sikkim to Lhasa, to be presented to the Dalai lama, one of which had died on the way.[2] He also spoke of the superiority of Indian metal images over those made in Tibet, and said that those made in Magadha, and called jai-khim, were very rare in this country. "If you had brought some of these, or of shar-li [Bengal bell-metal], or nub-li [lower Indus valley],[3] and presented them to the minister, he would have been infinitely more pleased than with glass and other fragile and useless toys."
In the evening it was settled that the minister should start for Tashilhunpo on the morrow, and that Kusho Jambala, the Chyag-dso-pa's elder brother, who was suffering from ophthalmia, should accompany him, to submit there to my medical treatment.
- ↑ Jaeschke, 'Tib.-Engl. Dict.' s.v., ong-pa, says this word is used to designate a medicinal plant. It usually, however, means "hand." Soap is known and occasionally used in Tibet, though not manufactured there. It is usually called langle (written "glang-glad") It is brought there from India or China, the former kind being the best.—(W. R.)
- ↑ See chap. vii. p. 171.
- ↑ Shar-li means, literally, "Eastern bell-metal;" and Nub-li, "Western bell-metal.—(W. R.)"
