[CHAPTER LXXXVI.]
The Second and Third Challenge Gates.
This station serves as a place for the transmission of letters between Phari castle and the castle of Choeten Karpo; that is, a station where the letters received from one place can be handed over to the other. In Tibet, there is no more perfect plan than this for the transmission of letters. In other places, for example, by going twenty or thirty miles letters can be handed in for transmission. Even this is only for letters from the Government to the local office, and not for private correspondence. Consequently in the case of the transmission of private letters, it must be done either by some one in the house or by some hired man.
That night I was allowed to sleep in a comfortable bed. It was the first time since my departure from India that I lay on a European bed. As it was in the rainy season, the next day was also rainy; but having no necessity to stay there, in spite of my servant’s murmurs, we started at five o’clock in the morning. This time we got into a very lonely forest, where numerous trees of enormous size, requiring three or four men to embrace them, were stretching up so close together that the sun could not penetrate. Although this is a part of the Tibetan dominion, yet they could not get timber from here on account of the lack of means of transportation. All the large rivers run towards the south; and in such a country as Tibet, where there is no good means of transportation, it is natural to leave even such splendid and exhaustless forests just as they are. In this forest of about four miles in circumference, there is level ground and a river flowing from a peak of the Phari in Tibet. This river begins with a very narrow stream, but after receiving several small brooks and rivulets it becomes larger and wider as it goes lower and lower down towards the plains. After walking about six miles from Dakarpo, we arrived at the castle of Choeten Karpo.
This Choeten Karpo is not mentioned in any of the works of European authors that I have read. As this castle is of very recent construction, it is possibly not known to foreigners. It is occupied by two or three hundred Chinese soldiers. It seemed that this place was not well-known to the chief local official of Darjeeling; for he enquired of me particularly, when I arrived at Darjeeling, about the castle, its condition and the number of soldiers stationed there.
“It must be well-known to you,” said I, “why should you ask me questions like that?”
“Our secret-service men cannot go there,” replied he, “it is utterly impossible for us to know anything about it.”
I am not sure whether what he said was true or not; but it is a fact that even Tibetans living in Darjeeling seem not to know of the existence of such a castle. The Tibetans are shrewd in money-saving, but at the same time they are so entirely careless that though they see the gate of a castle, they never enquire how many soldiers are stationed there, what they are doing, and for what purpose they have been provided.
There is a passage right under the castle, which I entered without meeting with any rudeness. In it there are the lodgings of the Chinese soldiers, three hundred in number. Though the town is among the mountains it is very prosperous. Some of the soldiers are engaged in hair-dressing, others are selling vermicelli and toilet articles, or making tofu (a soft cream-like substance made from bean-curd). Most of them have wives and children, and are engaged in some suitable occupation. The barrack itself is the town and the soldiers in it are moved here every half-year from Shigatze or Gyangtze. They not only receive a salary from the Chinese Government, but also a sum of money from the Tibetan Government; consequently they live fairly well on their double income.
On ordering our dinner on our arrival at the barracks in this soldier-town, we were abundantly served with boiled rice and various other foods cooked in Chinese style. As the feast principally consisted of pork and yak flesh, my servant ate with gusto. I did not eat the meat, and asked for salted vegetables instead. This was the first time on the journey that I enjoyed pickles such as I had had in Japan.