The women seemed particularly interested in this sport, because a practical application of this exercise is used by enterprising lads of Tibet to overcome the scruples of reluctant maids who do not reciprocate their love. At a suitable opportunity the doomed young lady is abducted bodily in that fashion, and conveyed in all haste to the suitor’s tent, with the honourable intention, of course, of making her his happy bride.
Women are scarce in Tibet, and actual raiding parties, I was told, occasionally take place against neighbouring tribes in order to obtain a fresh supply of wives.
Taking things all round, there are few men and [[156]]women in Tibet who cannot ride well, yet there are few who can claim exceptional skill in that line. The Tibetan generally values his bones too much to indulge in fancy tricks upon his pony. Some young fellow, more ambitious than others, will master the art of standing erect upon the saddle while going full speed, his feet being inserted into the stirrups, which have for the purpose been shortened as high as they could go. By pressing with his ankles against the saddle he manages to maintain his balance, in the familiar way of the Cossacks and tribes of Central Asia, who all excel in this game.
Tibetan saddles, as you know, are in appearance not unlike a cross between a Cossack saddle and a rude Mexican saddle, and as good as neither, but quite suited to the country where they are used. Men and women ride astride, with exceptionally short stirrups, so that the leg is bent at the knee at a right or even an acute angle. In order to maintain one’s equilibrium when riding fast some additional stability is obtained by stretching out the arms sideways.
Tibetan Soldier at Target Practice
Taking all things into consideration, there is no doubt that in a rugged, mountainous country like Tibet, and for a Tibetan, his is the most practical [[157]]and useful type of saddle, and his fashion of riding the most sensible—evidently the outcome of practical experience. When riding in caravans, driving herds of laden yaks or ponies, the advantages of legs doubled up high upon the saddle are soon apparent, avoiding the danger of crushing one’s lower limbs or having them partly torn off. In the English way of riding, when among obstacles, one’s legs are always in the way; in the Tibetan fashion they are always out of the way, or, at any rate, can easily and quickly be moved over from one side to the other of the saddle. Also, when tired of riding in one position, altering one’s position to side-saddle is quite convenient and easy.
The blocks of the saddles are of wood imported mainly from India, Nepal, or China, with bindings of hammered iron or brass, often inlaid with silver and gold. Lizard skin and coloured leather adorn the front and back of the saddles, and a substantial pad covers the central part and the otherwise very angular seat. For extra comfort rugs—occasionally valuable and always decorative in blue and red tints—are spread, while to leather laces behind the saddle are slung double bags containing tsamba, chura, or cheese, a brick of compressed tea, and whatever sundry articles may be used on a journey. [[158]]The last, but not least attachment on a Tibetan saddle is a long coiled rope of yak hair with a wooden peg at the end for tethering the pony at night.
Whatever one may say of Tibetans, the best-inclined could not compliment them on their shooting. Their matchlocks—their only firearms, made in Lhassa and Shigatz—are weapons so clumsy and heavy and badly made, that when fired it is truly more dangerous to be behind them than in front of their muzzle. During my captivity in Tibet in 1897, indeed, I was fired upon twice—by distinguished marksmen who took accurate aim only a few paces from me—but neither time was I hit. Nor in all my experience of Tibet have I any remembrance of ever seeing a Tibetan hit with a projectile from his matchlock anything which he intended, although the range was never more than twenty or thirty yards. Few are the matchlocks in the Forbidden Land which will carry as far as fifty or a hundred yards.
