The castle is strongly constructed, and there are two gates at the centre of a large stone wall which extends to the south along the side of the mountain. On the door of the gate a notice is posted up announcing the daily opening from six o’clock in the morning to the same time in the afternoon. I heard from the neighboring people that except when the gate is opened on the report of a soldier for some urgent need, the notice is observed with strict accuracy, since the people at night might be in danger of their lives from the attacks of wild animals.
We then passed a small bridge, and after ascending about half a mile, and also descending through a forest along a river, we came out on a plain of half a mile in circumference, where beautiful flowers carpeted the ground, and many horses were grazing.
After leaving the plain and passing the bridge we went about half a mile, and arrived at the bridge of Chumbi. It is a large bridge twenty-five yards long and two yards wide, having no railing. At the eastern end of it stands a gate, in front of which there is a small house where a number of soldiers keep watch. Passports have to be handed to these soldiers, and if a man is considered by them a suspicious person, he is sure to be sent back; also it is said that without offering bribes one cannot pass through safely.
As soon as I reached the gate, the soldiers asked me where I was going. As my servant had shown my passport to the chief official, he directed the inferior officials to admit me without any enquiry. This was owing to the fact that it was said in the passport that no impolite treatment was to be accorded to the bearer. I had now passed through two guard-houses without the least hindrance, and must proceed to try for the third. For the new trial I felt a great confidence arising from my strong devotion, as I had passed my first trial with success according to the revelation which I had received in religious meditation.
After descending along a river for two miles and a half we arrived at the barracks of Pimbithang, the third guard-house. This day the rain fell in abundance, and we were so tired that we stopped in a building attached to the barracks. As I heard that there was no necessity for me to be examined here on the next day, I felt I must go to Tomo-Rinchen-gang, in order to obtain a note from the chief official of the guard-house. The note from the last guard-house being taken as a proof of our respectability, we were allowed to pass through the gate of Nyatong castle guarded by Chinese; and after enquiring about and receiving a note from the chief of the castle, the fifth guard-house, I was obliged to return to Pimbithang again. As I heard at Pimbithang that a note can be given only between eleven and half-past eleven o’clock, I had to go to Tomo-Rinchen-gang early the next day; but it seemed almost impossible to finish the matter within one day; it would certainly require three or four days to do so.
If I did nothing at this crisis, I should not only be in the ordinary danger of being overtaken by a pursuer, but as the information to catch such and such a man comes direct to Nyatong and may arrive there at all hours of the night, it might easily be utterly impossible for me to accomplish my object; so I tried to devise means of escaping the impending danger and avoiding trouble. Just at that time the wife of the chief of Pimbithang (a Chinese military officer) came in to receive medical treatment from me. Who brought her to me, and on account of what statement she came to me, I do not know. She was a Tibetan woman, long suffering from hysteria. She was a rare beauty, and had almost unlimited influence over her husband. Military officers are of course entrusted with power to command soldiers; yet in their families, the wives are often the officers and their husbands are ready to obey their command like private soldiers. So much I was told by a soldier, who understood that his chief officer was a greatly henpecked husband.
As she took the trouble to come to me, I examined this patient as she desired. After describing the nature of her disease and the care it needed, I gave her the medicine which seemed most suitable. It gratified her so much that she asked me to receive something as a token of thanks for my having served her. Hearing that I had no desire to take anything from her, she returned home and then came back again bringing with her something wrapped in paper, but this I refused to receive. I told her that as I was to get a passport, I had to go to Nyatong first, to get a certificate to be presented to the guard-house here.
Then I said to her:
“Will you be so kind as to secure the immediate issue of a passport from the chief officer?”