Schäfer kept meticulous notes on the religious and cultural customs of the Tibetans from their various colorful Buddhist festivals to Tibetan attitudes towards marriage, rape, menstruation, childbirth, homosexuality, and masturbation. In his account of Tibetan homosexuality, he described the various positions taken by older lamas with younger boys and then went on to explain how homosexuality played an important role in the higher politics of Tibet. There are pages of careful observation of Himalayan people engaged in a variety of intimate acts.