The drinking of tea is the usual accompaniment to a
bargain at the shop of a merchant or when paying a
call, and during our interviews with officials their
servants would generally enter two or three times and
offer their master tea in a cup, which would be sipped
and returned. These cups are made of onyx and
jade, and are sometimes very expensive, the one shown
to us by the Yungchong being worth six guineas,
and the more influential the visitor the more costly
the cup set before him by. the host. The Yungchong
showed us cups of different grades suitable to callers
of varying position. The tea in general use is the well-
known brick-tea made of leaves compressed into a
solid mass, but it must be carefully remembered that
there is an admixture with the tea, which gives to the
beverage its red colour and also a very stimulating
effect. What that admixture is, is a secret very carefully
treasured by the Chinese manufacturers, but it
was accidentally discovered by one Kumaon firm, the
Berenag Tea Company, as a cake of Chinese brick-tea
opened by them was found to have a leaf of the herb
utilised left in it by an oversight. This leaf was carefully
examined and was traced to a wild plant which
grows very generally in many localities in our hills,
and as soon as experiments produced the red colour
and the stimulating effect in the beverage it was known
for certain that the whole secret was discovered. The
tea of this company in consequence is very popular
in Tibet, while the Daba Jongpen has been in the habit
of passing it off as the Chinese article; and for all
trade purposes in the future, the factor of this admixture
being present or not will have a great influence in the
sale of the commodity.
Nothing could have been more successful than our
visit to Gartok, and our relations with the Viceroys
were all that could be desired. Their dress, like that
of all officials, was in the Chinese style, while the hat of
state was yellow, with, a handle and tassel attached to
it by means of the large opaque blue button indicating
OFFICIAL TIBETAN TEA PACKED IN LEATHER CASES LE F T BY THE
YUNGCHONG FOR SALE
The men are Dokpas wearing fur-lined coats : the tent is black and made
of woven yaks’ hair
their office of Viceroy, the third rank in the state.
Large spectacles, worn as a means of giving an appearance
of intellectual proficiency, gave the finishing
touch. These were removed during the course of our
interviews, as they were only in the way for seeing and
examining the various Western objects of interest
which we showed them. There is a recognised custom
among the gentlemen and nobility of India of handing
round scent, cardamums and betel-nut at all friendly
interviews, and I thought that possibly the Viceroys
might be so well acquainted with Indian ways as to