of the bit of cloth. The whole thing is a considerable weight. In their ears they wear large, plain silver rings or short strings of glass beads of different colours. Often they also have a string of dark beads round their necks. Their furs are fastened round their waists by a strap with long, flat copper ornaments. A heavy flat double hook of brass or copper is hung on to the strap in front. The men wear the same kind of cap, footgear and fur. The coat is often edged with leopard skin and is looped up with a sash. On their stomachs they carry long swords stuck into the sash, to which they also attach materials for making a fire, and often a knife. Their pigtails end in a brass brooch which is worn as an ornament on the forehead, when the pigtail is wound round their heads. A ring is often worn in the left ear. Sometimes the pointed cap is replaced by a little raspberry-coloured turban The men I saw were seldom above medium height. I saw plump people, no fat ones, but many thin. Many of their bare arms were muscular. The majority of those I saw had short and broad faces. Their ears and mouths were well proportioned; their noses were broad at the bottom and often slightly snub; their eyes were often large and beautiful. They were very shy, especially the women and children; if you approach a woman by herself, she usually runs away. The women are evidently very industrious; you seldom sec them unoccupied like the men. Frequently you see little girls, mere children, carrying large, heavy baskets of mould or doing some other kind of heavy work.
In the villages you do not really see the houses, but only a number of clay walls, all of about the same height. Occasionally, however, there is a second storey above the level of the wall. Round the yards there are large frames made of rods rather like those used by us in the north in our clover fields and serving the same purpose. Even in March you see some of them festooned with some fodder.
A hut that I visited looked like this. A small, well swept yard led you into a dark hall with all kinds of baskets and other large articles and thence into the living room which was 7-8 m square and about 6-7 m high with two small windows at a height of 1.6o m. A panelling of planed boards of a brownish-yellow colour,
oot probably from age, and displaying the doors of a couple of small cup-
boards, reached a level halfway up the windows. The polished brass cups typical of Buddha altars stood on a hassock-like table in front of
yard one of the doors, indicating that images were kept inside the cupboard.
Two cauldrons were built into a low cooking range that stood against
abed the wall opposite the entrance. Chinese cups and other small household
utensils were placed on an extension ofit running along the wall. Above it there was a roughly made shelf fixed to the wall, bearing various household utensils. At the end of the cooking range another shelf was fixed between two wooden pillars reaching from floor to ceiling and smoked ham, other food, and more household utensils, were placed on it. In a corner by the door the floor had been covered with a layer of earth, enclosed by low boards, and a lot of rubbish was deposited there. The windowsills apparently also served as places for storing rubbish. The floor, made of boards, was used for sleeping. It all looked fairly tidy and comfortable. The owner of the cottage, a widow of 5o, told me that she owned 3 mou offields, 2 oxen and a cow. If this was true, she seemed to be living
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