A LITTLE GIRL, DAUGHTER OF A TIBETAN NOBLEMAN.
During my stay at Gyatsoshar I occupied the little pavilion belonging to the minister, which I have described previously.[8] The [[201]]flowers in the garden which surrounded it filled the air with their fragrance; the tall poplars, the widespread willows, the fragrant junipers, the graceful cedars, all contributed to make this place the most favoured of all the neighbourhood.
PICNIC IN A GROVE.
My health rapidly improved in these pleasant surroundings and genial temperature, and I worked diligently at transcribing works of great interest into the nagari character which had, though written in Sanskrit, been preserved in the (Wu-chan) script of Tibet. Ugyen devoted himself to botanizing, extending his excursions to considerable distances. Finally, to facilitate bringing in his collections, he bought a donkey and a pony for himself to ride.
July 19 was kept as a great holiday, it being the day on which the Buddha first turned the Wheel of the Law. The people of Shigatse and neighbourhood visited the different chapels and sanctuaries and thronged in every corner of Tashilhunpo.
Two days later the Deba Shikha, of whom I have had so often to speak, gave a garden-party to a number of his friends in the garden surrounding the house in which I was living at Gyatsoshar. There were a dozen men and women; the former amused themselves the [[202]]whole day at archery and quoits,[9] in both of which they exhibited considerable skill. The same day Ugyen started on a botanizing trip, which took him as far as Sakya.
On July 26 I returned to Dongtse, and was pleased to find that the Minister had recovered from the small-pox. I found the Tung-chen busy preparing for the ceremony of consecrating a new house of the Seng chen,[10] as the minister is called, now nearly complete, and built a little to the north of the Tsug-la khang temple. In the room given me were some five or six hundred balls of butter of about two pounds weight each, and a number of bags of tsamba and wheat flour.
I had only been here four days when I was requested by the Chyag-dso-pa of Gyantse to visit him and see if I could not do something for the complaint from which he had now been suffering for some time. The invitation was so pressing that I could not refuse; so I set out at once, and was most kindly received by him and his family. I remained here until August 13, when a letter reached me from the minister, who was still at Dongtse, asking me to rejoin him there at once. This letter of the minister, though written in Tibetan, was in the Roman character, which I had taught him to write the preceding winter.[11]
As I rode back to Dongtse I was greatly struck by the beauty of the vegetation; the little pools were frequently covered with lilies, and wild-flowers were in full bloom.