These lawns and groves present a charming appearance in spring, and the people of Lhasa, after having been chained to the town through the desolate and dreary scenes of winter, feel themselves inspired with a new life when they meet again on turf which is resuming its vigor and putting on a new coat of velvet. There are peach-trees with their buds about to burst open, while by the streams may be seen willow-trees with their elegant pendant twigs covered with fresh green leaves.
The whole city of Lhasa finds its heart beating with a new life, as it were, in agreeable harmony with the fascinating surroundings of nature. The season of pure and innocent amusements has arrived, and the people, urged on by the natural cravings of their hearts, sally forth to the fields in small parties or large, and enjoy themselves with picnics.
The picnic outfit comprises baked flour, fried vegetables or meats, cheese, raisins, dried peaches, dried animal flesh, sacks of liquor and tea-sets. There are two kinds of native liquors, one being made of barley or wheat and the other of rice. Of the two the former is used to a greater extent than the latter. The barley liquor is brewed in a very simple way. A certain quantity of barley, generally at the rate of one sho of the grain to five sho of the liquor, is roasted, then left to cool, and while it is being cooled a quantity of malt is added, and the mixture is put in a jug and kept in a warm place. In three days the mixture is converted into yeast, and to it water is added and thoroughly stirred. The liquor is then ready, and it is ladled out as occasion requires, or the whole watery portion is strained and put in another vessel. In brewing a superior kind of the liquor, only about two sho of water is added to one sho of the grain and the strained liquid is left to ripen for some weeks. This superior liquor is used only by wealthy people.
The ordinary barley liquor is very weak and does not intoxicate unless a large quantity is drunk. The climate too being comparatively cool and the atmosphere very dry, the fumes of the liquor soon disappear even when a man has imbibed a large quantity.
So, prepared with all those provisions, the parties spread their mats on the turf, and enjoy themselves to their hearts’ contents from nine in the morning to six in the afternoon.
A PICNIC PARTY IN SUMMER.
Let us suppose that a carpet is laid on the velvety lawn in a wood, and that there are liquors and delicacies to which the party will help themselves. There will also be singing and dancing. Dancing is generally accompanied by vocal music, and it occupies in the eyes of Tibetan people a very important place on the programme of a public function of this kind. Everybody appears to think that there is nothing more enjoyable in life than the art of cadenced steps and graceful postures. Even the country people who from lack of opportunities cannot learn the art, appreciate and enjoy it just as well as the inhabitants of cities. Strangers like myself do not see any great merit in the Tibetan dancing, but to their eyes it is certainly amusing. In short, the picnic is a source of most refined relaxation to the Tibetans, for on such occasions they sing and dance, they drink the best of liquors and eat the best of delicacies, their enjoyment very much enhanced by the exquisite environment. Here flows a limpid current drawn from the river Kichu and on its banks are gambolling and running children and adults. There stand majestic snow-capped peaks with their slopes covered with verdant forests. Lhasa indeed seems to justify at such time its classic name of the ‘Ground of Deities’.