to bear the great cold and dies. The Indus river is full
of magnificent fish which are caught by our Bhotias
with the hand by means of tickling (there are no nets or
rods), while the Tibetans refuse to enjoy what nature
has so lavishly bestowed on them. For some in ex-
Viceroy’s son
THE SENIOR VICEROY
plicable reason they consider fish and birds an improper
diet, to be avoided as anathema, and thereby they make
for themselves even greater difficulties than already
exist in this very trying country, where vegetables are
unobtainable, poultry does not exist, grain cannot be
grown (this does not refer to the low valleys of Taklakot
and Daba), and milk is so valuable for butter that it
is scarcely ever drunk by itself.
Marital relations are a little confused in the case of the
Garphans. The Senior Viceroy, or Urgu Gong, has a
son, a nice boy of something over twenty, living with
him, who in the usual course of events is married.
When the father lost his own wife it was thought
proper that he should become a joint husband of the
THE JU N IO R VICEROY, OR URGA HOG
Note the pendant ear-ring : the cloth on the right is the window-pane, removed
to give light during our interview in the room which comes out
black in the photo
son s wife, and this is the existing ménage, father and son
owning the same wife. Nor is this state of things considered
in the least disgraceful, for the father is a most
respectable man of excellent family, and would scorn
to do anything by which a slur might be cast on his
name. Apparently it is an orthodox custom in Tibet
for father and sons to share the same wife, the only
condition laid down being that she shall not be the son’s
mother. As in polyandry, the eldest husband is called