Note 52 — Chapter VI · SOME RURAL FESTIVALS AND CEREMONIES.
Reading edition
In the same way at Ladâkh, “the main rafters of the houses are supported by cylindrical or square pillars of wood, the top of which, under the truss, is, in the houses of the peasantry, encircled by a band of straw and ears of wheat, forming a primitive sort of capital. It is the custom, I was told, to consecrate the two or three first handsful of each year’s crop to the spirit who presides over agriculture, and these bands are thus deposited. Sometimes rams’ horns are added to this decoration.”52