Dear John,
The Thibetan sheeps were (are?) used as pack-animals.
"In the frontier country bordering Tibet, herds of sheep and goats are used for the transport of merchandize. They are driven over the passes to Tibet, laden with grain (a full grown sheep carrying about seven pounds), and return at the end of the summer with salt and borax."
From: General Hypsometry of India, the Himalaya, and Western Tibet: With Sections Across the KarakorĂșm and KuenlĂșen : Comprising ... the Data Collected from Books, Maps, and Private Communications
Robert von Schlagintweit
Brockhaus, 1862
https://books.google.com/books?id=zoJRAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA383&dq=%22They+are+driven+over+the+passes+to+Tibet,+laden+with+grain+(a+full+grown+sheep+carrying+about+seven+pounds),+and+return+at+the+end+of+the+summer+with+salt+and+borax.+%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uHajVevBG6X5ygOfo4GoBQ&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22They%20are%20driven%20over%20the%20passes%20to%20Tibet%2C%20laden%20with%20grain%20(a%20full%20grown%20sheep%20carrying%20about%20seven%20pounds)%2C%20and%20return%20at%20the%20end%20of%20the%20summer%20with%20salt%20and%20borax.%20%22&f=false
One may find other relevant references in the net, e.g.:
https://books.google.com/books?id=7sMWAQAAIAAJ&q=tibet+sheeps+borax&dq=tibet+sheeps+borax&hl=ru&sa=X&ei=vHWjVbOYF4fVywOZvr2YDA&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw
Hope it may help,
Yan
J> In "The Miracle of Purun Baghat" in The Second Jungle Book, Kipling writes vividly of Purun Dass walking into the hills with his begging bowl and antelope skin:
J> He followed the Himalaya-Thibet road, the little ten-foot track that is blasted out of solid rock, or strutted out on timbers over gulfs a thousand feet deep; that dips into warm, wet, shut-in valleys, and climbs out across bare, grassy hill-shoulders where the sun strikes like a burning-glass; or turns through dripping, dark forests where the tree-ferns dress the trunks from head to heel, and the pheasant calls to his mate. And he met Thibetan herdsmen with their dogs and flocks of sheep, each sheep with a little bag of borax on his back, and wandering wood-cutters, and cloaked and blanketed Lamas from Thibet, coming into India on pilgrimage....
J> Kipling must have based this on his own experience of that road. But can anyone suggest why the sheep were carrying little bags of borax. Were they being used as pack animals, as a correspondent in Washington State has suggested, was it to ward off ill luck, or ill health ...?
J> Any thoughts will be gratefully received.
J> Good wishes to all
J> John R
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