National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

to be exacted from the servants in the use of these articles, the loss of which may
be very disagreeable, and at times irreparable. As the native cooks are too much
inclined to waste, it is best to give out but small quantities, and to lock up the
principal stock; a very convenient way of doing which, without being encumbered
with locks and keys, is by pasting a slip of paper round the edges of the tin-boxes
in which these articles are packed, and making a mark across it with a pencil or
pen. This acts as a kind of talisman, for the box cannot be opened without the
mark being injured.

As provisions in general, if travelling in an uninhabited country, flour for making
chapátis (a kind of toasted substitute for bread), rice, potatoes, and a small herd of
living animals, goats and sheep ("peripatetic mutton," as Mr. Russell styles them in
his Diary), are to be considered the most important. The latter can be taken by the
traveller along any route.¹ It is also advisable to lay in a supply of biscuits and
hermetically sealed soup.

With reference to liquors, the heavier wines (sherry, port, madeira), as also
beer stand even a lengthened transport exceedingly well. Claret, white wines, and
hock will soon be converted into a non-descript kind of vinegar. A large supply
likely to last for some time causes an immence increase in the weight of the
luggage.²

A good substitute for wine and beer — of course sparingly used — is brandy; and
though the traveller may, from various causes, personally object to its use, yet some
bottles are indispensable, on certain occasions, as presents to the natives of the
higher parts of the Himalaya and Tibet.³ For, after difficult expeditions, the people
eagerly look out for a good drop of brandy, which they always enjoy very judiciously
at a time when their services are not urgently required. Nay, they even sometimes
went so far as to request us to fix the time when they could best partake of the
brandy, a question, which first puzzled us, but the meaning of which we soon found
out. It always implied a tacit consent on our part to the members of such a party's
being allowed to get more or less intoxicated. But, to do them justice, it must be
stated that such occasions were very rare.