The heavy sheepskin coats worn by the Tibetans are some protection when the lash is applied, and the pain inflicted is not always in proportion to the noise made by the blow; but such is not the case when they catch one another across the face. [[152]]
The winner is presented with a kata by the umpire—a high Lama or a military officer, a most picturesque creature in a brilliant red coat and fluffy hat, who has a peculiar standard with hundreds of long, vari-coloured strips of cloth, or flying prayers. Sitting on a handsome pony, with gaudy harness of green leather inlaid with brass, a valuable Chinese rug upon the saddle, and many tinkling bells round the pony’s neck, the umpire and his pony certainly produce a gay ensemble. This gentleman takes himself very seriously, and seldom condescends to smile.
The kata, or “scarf of love and friendship,” which is given to the winner is a long piece of silk-like gauze, the ends of which have been trimmed into a fringe. As I have elsewhere described at greater length, these katas play quite an important part in the social intercourse of Tibetans. They can be purchased or obtained from the Lamas of any monastery, or where no monastery exists the natives manufacture them themselves, for they are constantly needed. No gift can be sent nor accepted without “a veil of friendship” accompanying it, and no stranger ever enters a tent without offering, with outstretched hands, a kata, which he quickly lays at the feet of [[153]]his host. Diminutive katas are enclosed in letters; sweethearts exchange katas on every possible occasion—until they are actually married. Polyandry being prevalent in Tibet, when one of the several husbands returns to his wife after the customary absence, he never fails to bring a kata with him. Not to offer a kata to an honoured visitor is as palpable a breach of manners, and as great a slight as can possibly be offered in the Forbidden Land.
Necessarily, when a kata has been blessed by the Lamas, or is won in a race before high officials, it has additional value, and these simple folks value it more than a gift of money or food. It is stored away in the tent among the heirlooms, and is handed down to posterity.
A slightly more difficult feat, very common in a similar form in most countries, is the picking up of a kata by horsemen at full gallop. One horseman, a high official, revolves the kata seven times in the wind, and then darts full gallop in one direction, followed by twenty, thirty, or more horsemen riding wildly, and each trying to push his neighbours out of the way. The official, some thirty yards ahead, flies the kata in the wind, and when fancy takes him lets it drop out of his hand. The kata eventually settles on the ground, and the horde [[154]]of riders gallops away from it, yelling and quarrelling. At a signal from the officer the horsemen turn round and make a dash for the scarf, towards which all the ponies are converging. Clinging to the saddle with one hand and hanging over, each rider attempts to pick up the kata without dismounting. Collisions and nasty falls are numerous, and this sport generally partakes of the character of an all-round fight among the ponies’ legs. Somebody, however, always succeeds in picking up the scarf and getting clear of the others, when he triumphantly rides round the camp fluttering the prize in the wind.
Some of the younger fellows are clever at this sport, and when one rider at a time does the feat, he seldom misses picking up the kata at the first swoop.
A Race for the Kata
An interesting and more difficult feat of horsemanship I witnessed in Tibet was the loading and firing of a matchlock while at full gallop—a performance which requires a firmer seat on the saddle than appears. The heavy and cumbersome weapons had to be unslung from the shoulders, the props let down, the fuse lighted by flint and steel, some gunpowder placed and kept in the small side receptacle, and last, but not least, the shot fired off—that [[155]]is to say, when it would go off! The full use of both hands was required in this exercise, and therefore the horsemen held the reins with their teeth. When firing they lay almost flat on the ponies’ backs in order to prevent being thrown by the sudden bucking of the frightened ponies.
Another exercise consists in bodily lifting a person on the saddle while the pony is at full gallop. The pedestrian is seized as low near the waist as possible, and the impetus of the pony’s flight, not the rider’s actual strength, is utilised in raising the person on the saddle.