according to the male descendants, and the Jongpen
takes first and foremost one share for the State, that
is, for himself. “ L’etat, c’est moi ” is better applicable
to the Tibetan official than to any crowned
head in Europe, and the Jongpen, with great care
and thoroughness, chooses the best of everything for
himself. I t is scarcely to be wondered at that families
remain undivided when the penalty for partition is
so great. Families number as many as twenty and
thirty members and the ancestral home grows to a
great size. One of the first things one notices in coming
fresh to the country is the large dimensions of the
houses. Each household contains for all practical
purposes three or four families, and one can imagine
the atmosphere in which the children are brought
up with polyandry all round them, and when the
time comes for a girl to enter another similar household,
and be the bride of numerous brothers, it may
truly be said that there is no modesty left in her.
Merchants and officials from Lhasa can anywhere
get women throughout Western Tibet to live with them
temporarily for the mere asking, even of the best local
families.
In the midst of so much laxity there are still
some stringent rules, the principal being that no
marriage is to be regarded as binding unless and
until the girl has been asked for from her parents
with due formality. Sometimes a bridegroom is
demanded for a daughter. The asker goes to the
house of the parent and stands opposite the door,
across the road, and takes his hat off to every soul
that comes out of that house, be it the fair young
lady, or the forbidding mama, or the complacent
papa, who has a terribly searching eye for business,
or even the last-joined scullery-maid : they must,
all and sundry, be politely saluted, and these salutations
must continue without intermission for days
until the matter has been properly concluded. After
A TIBETAN WEDDING : THE BRIDEGROOM
settlement severe punishment is meted out to any
man who takes liberties with the fiancée. The
girl is generally eight to ten years of age, sometimes
older, and the marriage ceremony takes place a few
months after the formal asking. This is always
attended by plentiful and liberal hospitality on all
sides, but the actual binding portion depends upon