Produced by Suzanne Shell, Asad Razzaki and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: USMAN SHAH] AMONG THE TIBETANS Isabella L. Bird Illustrated by Edward Whymper DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. Mineola, New York CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I THE START 7 CHAPTER II SHERGOL AND LEH 40 CHAPTER III NUBRA 72 CHAPTER IV MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 101 CHAPTER V CLIMATE AND NATURAL FEATURES 130 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Usman Shah _Frontispiece_ The Start from Srinagar 13 Camp at Gagangair 18 Sonamarg 21 A hand Prayer-Cylinder 42 Tibetan Girl 45 Gonpo of Spitak 51 Leh 57 A Chod-Ten 66 A Lama 74 Three Gopas 77 Some Instruments of Buddhist Worship 86 Monastic Buildings at Basgu 93 The Yak (_Bos grunniens_) 100 A Chang-pa Woman 102 Chang-pa Chief 110 The Castle of Stok 117 First Village in Kulu 125 A Tibetan Farm-house 133 Lahul Valley 141 Gonpo at Kylang 149 CHAPTER I THE START The Vale of Kashmir is too well known to require description. It is the 'happy hunting-ground' of the Anglo-Indian sportsman and tourist, the resort of artists and invalids, the home of _pashm_ shawls and exquisitely embroidered fabrics, and the land of Lalla Rookh. Its inhabitants, chiefly Moslems, infamously governed by Hindus, are a feeble race, attracting little interest, valuable to travellers as 'coolies' or porters, and repulsive to them from the mingled cunning and obsequiousness which have been fostered by ages of oppression. But even for them there is the dawn of hope, for the Church Missionary Society has a strong medical and educational mission at the capital, a hospital and dispensary under the charge of a lady M.D. have been opened for women, and a capable and upright 'settlement officer,' lent by the Indian Government, is investigating the iniquitous land arrangements with a view to a just settlement.