After
winnowing with wooden forks, they make the grain into a pyramid,
insert a sacred symbol, and pile upon it the threshing instruments
and sacks, erecting an axe on the apex with its blade turned to the
west, as that is the quarter from which demons are supposed to come.
In the afternoon they feast round it, always giving a portion to the
axe, saying, 'It is yours, it belongs not to me.' At dusk they pour
it into the sacks again, chanting, 'May it increase.' But these are
not removed to the granary until late at night, at an hour when the
hands of the demons are too much benumbed by the nightly frost to
diminish the store. At the beginning of every one of these
operations the presence of lamas is essential, to announce the
auspicious moment, and conduct religious ceremonies. They receive
fees, and are regaled with abundant chang and the fat of the land.
In Hundar, as elsewhere, we were made very welcome in all the houses.
I have described the dwelling of Gergan. The poorer peasants occupy
similar houses, but roughly built, and only two-storeyed, and the
floors are merely clay. In them also the very numerous lower rooms
are used for cattle and fodder only, while the upper part consists of
an inner or winter room, an outer or supper room, a verandah room,
and a family temple.
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