Himalayan Times (1957)

Ttn

THE SHERPAS

•(Continued from puge 8)
ployer, regardless of re-
compense. Yet there is
no man more independent
and proud than the Sberpa.

There are other diffe-
rences, of oojrse, In the
land of the Sherpas it is
a very oommon thing for
a woman to have two
husbands, usually brothers.
Nobody bothers as to
who is the father of the
children—they are hers.
There is never any jea.
lousy in suoh household!.

By religion they are
Buddhists, though. not
very strict ones. I saw
only one small demons-
tration of religous feeling
among the Sherpas.

It was when Da Norbu
had gone off with a re-
connaissance party up an
unexplored glaoier, a rather
chancy trip, Kami, his
partioular friend, and I
were sitting by the camp
fire in one of the lower
camps at 12.0U0 feet, and
I know that Kami was
anxious for Da Norbu.

He went and plucked
a twig of juniper from a
nearby bush and set it
smouldering in the fire.
Then he squatted beside
me with the glowing
branoh in his hand, his
solemn face lit by the
crimson glow, and while
the juniper dispered its
scented smoke he recited
p.-ayers to Buddha for

the safety of bis comrade.

Sberpa courage is un-
doubted, and they have
none of the superstitious
fear of the heights which
obsosses other Himalayan
tribes. One thing alone
daunts them—the suspec-
ted presence of a yeti, or
Abominable Snowman.

The dnly time I saw
Da Norbu and' KamiNook
dismayed was when we
came upon a trail of those
huge and mysterious foot-
prints crossing a snowslope
at 14,000 feet. 1 don't
think they slept that night
for it is well known that
the yeti can drag a man
from his tent without
waking him, and then
bite off his head. Does
the Abominable Snowman
exist? Any Sberpa will
- answer 'Yes'!

Most Sberpa men carry
in their belt or sash a
kukri, the deadly, broad
bladed sword-knife of
| Nepal, but I never saw
one drawn in anger. Sher-
pas are too cheery and
active to be quarrel some.

The feats the moun-
taineering Sberpa perform
are almost superhuman.
On the conquest of Karaet,
25,477 feet, in 1937, the
Sherpa sirdar Lews was
climbing with Frank Smy-
ths at over 23,000 feet
when one of the Sherpas
collapsed, beaten by shor
tage of oxygen ? and a
heavy load.

■

January 6, 1957

Lewa took the man's
load in addition to bis
own and climbed on, car-
rying nearly seven stone
on his back at a height
where Smytbe, of the
strongest Himalayan clim-
bers history has known,
could scarely lift bis own
body step by step. Since
then there have been
many such feats.
m .„ For my own part, I
remember the Sherpas
best by their cheerful
willingness and their won-
derful standars of service.
Give me a man who has
the courage to venture
into the unknown with
a party of foreigners from
another continent who, at
the end of a gruelling
and perilous day, when
his employers are genui-
nely beyond all further
effort, will sing as ha
rolls rocks for a fireplac •
and pitohes the tents,
who never grouses, meets
danger with a grim, and
takes pride in choosing
the hardest most mansize
jobs.

A man who has pro-
ved to be Hercules, Davy
Crockett, and Jeeves, rol-
led into one. That is
the greatest little man in
the world—the Sherpa.—
'Everybody's'

WHILE IN KALIMPONG
STAY AT

—CHANDRAS—