Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 3.djvu/226

 ITINERANT LAMA: BUDDHIST PRIEST. (163)

HE Lama here represented is, if possible, of wilder aspect than the preceding. The rude blanket robe, the clumsy boots, and the conical felt cap, form a picturesque costume suggestive of a more uncivilized country than India. He is from Yarkhund, in Tartary, on a pilgrimage to ancient Buddhist shrines in India, subsisting on the charity of Hindoos, and perhaps Mahomedans also. In his right hand is the usual cylindrical prayer rattle, and his left rests upon all his travelling gear, which he has suspended to an iron frame; his crutch or staff placed above all. The cylinder in front contains a few rolls of sacred writings, and in the gourd he carries his water. An utter stranger in the country, of the language of which he only perhaps knows a few common phrases and words, it is impossible not to appreciate the faith which has brought him over snowy mountains, by rugged roads and paths, into the civilized regions of India.