“What is the business in general?” asked the chief official.
“I may say this much. There is in Lhasa a patient of great eminence; I am hurrying on the road to get the medicine for him. My going to Buḍḍhagayā is only a pretext; really, I am in great haste to get to Calcutta, and shall come back as soon as I get the medicine. If I am detained here two or three days I cannot fulfil my great responsibility; and if I must stay here for several days I must get a note to explain my detention as a proof for a subsequent day.”
“Properly speaking, what is your profession?” said the official.
“At present, I cannot make it clear to you,” said I gravely, “but my going to India may reveal my profession. Besides that, as I have very important business, as I have told you again and again, I can hardly stay here even one day. Please give me a note showing that I arrived here, and handed in the written petition for a passport, and mentioning my detention for some days.”
“Dear me! I never came across such a case,” said the chief official, greatly surprised, and turning pale. “Please wait for awhile. Having heard that you are a great physician, I request you, while you are waiting, to treat a patient here; but as you are unable to stay here long, we will not detain you longer. As for the passport, I can’t decide it myself, but we will consult together and as soon as we decide the matter, we will let you know immediately.”
While I was treating the patient at his request at three o’clock I was called out and went there again.
“To-day,” said the chief official, “we have broken our ordinary rule, and considering your private circumstances, we held a special conference and decided to give you a passport at four o’clock.”
In a very short time, about four o’clock that day, I received my passport. Even Government merchants who have their passport already must go through various consultations, for the examination of goods and other business, and are detained here for at least two or three days. To my great joy, I got a passport the same day that I arrived. I might have left that night, but as there was no house on the way I was obliged to stop till the next morning.
Departing early the next day, we gradually proceeded among the south-western mountains. The snow-mountains began to project here and there, leaving between them only small portions of plateau. After going about three miles, when we reached the top of the plateau, the Phari Castle was no more to be seen. On descending we found that last night’s hail had moistened the ground very much, the snow-mountains around wore white garments, and the reflexion of the sun-light was so bright that it hurt my eyes. The temperature was exceedingly cold, and the whole scenery was lonesome and lifeless, only various kinds of short grasses growing here and there near the flowing water. The top of this plateau forms the watershed, dividing on the one side the basins that drain on to the Tibetan plain, and on the other to India.