for two days, whilst the men camped in the garden
and the ponies were picketed round the outer wall.
The rooms had already been decorated with tapestries
and cloths, and as everything had been got ready
beforehand, including boiling water, we were soon
comfortably settled. Shortly afterwards, the head
monks and the dzongpons arrived, presents were
exchanged, and the Treaty read ; these ceremonials
over, we had the afternoon to ourselves.
There was no peace, however, for Hospital Assistant
Hira Singh; his fame had preceded him, and the
blind, the halt, and the maimed began to arrive.
First of all they came in twos and threes, and then
in battalions, until the compound could hold no more.
The amount of sickness among these supposed hardy
people is astounding, and as there are neither doctors
nor drugs, their condition at times is most deplorable.
All diseases and ailments are put down to evil spirits,
whose devilish workings can only be defeated by the
religious ceremonies of the lamas. Whatever may
be the disease, the treatment is the same : the devil
must be driven out by prayers, chanting, the screeching
of clarionettes and the beating of drums. Indigestion,
a very common complaint amongst Tibetans, is treated
in a totally different manner ; for the patient is
cauterised with hot irons all over the pit ^ of the
stomach, in rings or in lines. The treatment is invariably
attended with success, so they say, and such is
probably the case ; for the stinging pain of the red-hot
iron must always overpower the aching caused by the
indigestion.
Cataract forms the main scourge of the land, and
has assumed terrible proportions. Every village and
every encampment has its band of totally blind
beggars, whilst many others, including tiny children