Note 16 — Chapter IV · RESIDENCE AT TASHILHUNPO, AND PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY TO LHASA.

In the narrative of his journey in 1879 (p. 26), S. C. D. thus describes the headdress of the ladies of wealth and fashion at a festival at Tashilhunpo: “Their headdresses struck me much. The prevailing form consisted of two, or sometimes three, circular bands of plaited hair placed across the head and richly studded with pearls, cat’s-eyes, small rubies, emeralds, diamonds, coral and turquoise beads as large as hens’ eggs, pearl drops, and various sorts of amber and jade encircled their heads, like the halo of light round the heads of goddesses. These circles were attached to a circular headband, from which six or eight short strings of pearls and regularly shaped pieces of turquoise and other precious stones hung down over the forehead.” ↑