in Chinese costume, and in accordance with Chinese
custom wore the nail of the little finger of an inordinate
length, the object being to conclusively advertise the
fact that manual labour was an impossibility. He
informed us that he and his brother official, the Sarpen,
usually started from Lhasa together, and while he took
the southern route vid the Holy Lakes, the other took the
northerly one passing through Thok Jalung, and that
after their annual tour they met at Gartok. He told
us that he himself had only just returned from Ladakh
and was now waiting for the Sarpen to arrive from the
north. The word Sar means “ gold,” and this officer
bears this name inasmuch as, in addition to his ordinary
duties of selling government goods as an official government
trader, he collects the taxes from the gold-diggers.
The tax is from ten to twelve rupees per head annually
and is a poll-tax on every digger. Considering the
output, the tax is merely nominal. The gold-mining
industry has declined of late years, the principal reason
being the absolute want of enterprise characteristic
of all things Tibetan. There is a perpetual haunting
fear in the minds of the official class that any innovation
may disturb the mahatmas, or spirits, of the earth,
and hence the general policy of laissez faire ; let the old
order continue, but all things new are strictly taboo.
Bhotias found, and worked, a borax mine a little to the
north of Gartok, but the order peremptorily closing
this industry was soon issued, for no apparent reason,
and this field of enterprise is now shut off from the
trader.
Gartok is also known as Garyersa, which is abbreviated
into Grersa, and is situated at a height of 15,100 ft.
in the middle of an enormous plain, where the wind can
sweep over it from every side. I t is the fact of this
exposed position that makes it so unpopular with the
Garphans, and which leads them to live at Gargunsa,
four days’ march further west, for the greater part of the
Viceroy’s son
THE SENIOR VICEROY, OR URGTT GONG
High officials wear a long ear-ring of turquoise, &c., in the left ear : the robes
are of Chinese silk, and the boots Lhasa-made
year. The word Yersa means summer, or heat, while
the term Gunsa means winter, or cold. There is a
defect in part of the_water-supply at Gartok, as at times
of drought there is a white efflorescence exuding from
the ground, which is so dangerous to animals that if eaten
with grass or otherwise it causes the hair to fall off from
the whole body, when the animal becomes unable