1 4 Ut supra, 176.
2 5 Moorer. ii. 321.
3 6 Gholaum Hyder,
4 178,
5 7 Wd. ib.;
6 Moorer. i. 321,
7 8 Vigne, ii, 356,
8 9 Moorer. i, $28,
9 ' Asia Polyglotta,
10 H3.
11 10 LADAKH.
12 They have the usual features of the Mongolians, but improved
13 by intermixture with the Kashmirian; the women especially,
14 accordingyto Gholaum Hyder,‘ are pretty and fair, with rosy
15 cheeks. a moral character they are mild, good-humoured,
16 peaceable, and honest, but timid, indolent, excessively dirty,
17 addicted to intoxication® and sexual immorality.6 Gholaum
18 Hyder ® observes :—** They are the most peaceable race of beings
19 in the world, very quiet, honest, and hospitable.”’ In consequence
20 of this disposition, crimes of violence are scarcely known. Poly-
21 andry is common among the lower orders, and, according to
22 the last-quoted authority, under peculiarly disgusting circum-
23 stances. ‘In a family of two or more brothers who are poor,
24 only one of them marries, and the wife is common to all, and
25 no jealousies or quarrels ensue.”7 Primogeniture here has
26 such high privileges, that on the marriage of the eldest son,
27 the property of the parents passes to him, and they become de-
28 pendant on him for maintenance, while the younger brothers
29 are little better than servants. The men wear close dresses of
30 woollen cloth and large mantles, which, for the rich, are made
31 of European broad-cloth, for the poor of sheepskin, with the wool
32 inwards. The dress of the grand lama or priest is yellow; that
33 of other lamas of superior rank red; and as these dignitaries
34 wear broad-brimmed hats, they closely resemble cardinals in
35 costume. The dress of the women consists of a jacket and
36 petticoat of enormous dimensions, and a sheepskin mantle.
37 ‘When rich, they are loaded with a variety of fantastic ornaments
38 and uncouth jewellery. ‘A Ladakhi female, in full costume,”
39 observes Moorcroft, “‘ would cause no small sensation amongst
40 the fashionable dames of a European capital.” 9
41 The diet of the Ladakhis in easy circumstances consists of
42 the flesh of yaks, sheep, or goats, with vegetables, rice, and
43 wheaten bread; that of the poorer classes, of barley, porridge,
44 vegetables, and a very small quantity of bread. Tea is taken three
45 times a day by such as can afford it. It is prepared by boiling
46 the leaf with soda, then straining off the liquor, and mixing it well
47 with butter and salt. They also drink chang, a weak fermented
48 beverage, made from barley. They are fond of dancing, singing,
49 horse-racing, and the polo or chaugan, a sort of game which may
50 not inaptly be described as cricket played on horseback.
51 The language is Tibetan, according to Klaproth,! the primi-