The next day we visited the temple, which is very beautiful, though the lamasery itself has never recovered from the pillage by the Jungars in the seventeenth century; and the Nyingma[52] Church being at present, moreover, persecuted by the dominant Gelugpa, no longer enjoys its former wealth. The neatness of the stonework and the finish of all the masonry about the temple were very remarkable, and the courtyard was regularly paved with stone slabs.
To the south of the monastery is the residence of the abbot, who is always selected from the Tertalingpa family, in which this office is hereditary.[53]
I left Mindol-ling on November 12, returned to the Tsang-po, and reached the village of Cho by dusk. Quite early the next morning we entered Khede-sho, where our route joined that we had taken when going to Samye.
We left Khede-sho by daylight the next morning, and continuing along the bank of the Tsang-po, crossed the long meadow of Ding-naga, which is covered with a fine, short, moss-like sod. Then passing through the villages of Kyishong, Panza, and Gyatu-ling, we came to where the Gonkhar mountains abut on the river. On their farther side is the town of Gongkhar,[54] still surrounded by imposing, though ruined walls. Here, after much difficulty, we managed to obtain shelter in the house of a fisherman, who gave us leave to pass the night in a hovel half filled with yak hides. He and his wife were very kind to us, and looked, to the best of their ability, after our wants and those of our ponies.
We resumed our journey at 4 in the morning, and pushed on slowly and with considerable difficulty, for the path was over rocks, in places overhanging the roaring river. At daybreak we passed by the village of Shyati-ling, and shortly after the sun pierced the fog which had enveloped us. A low col, called Yab la, was next passed, and we joined the high-road between Lhasa and Shigatse, which I [[236]]have previously described. We stopped for the night at Tamalung.
The next day (November 16) we reached Palti djong.
On the 18th, a mile or so to the west of Oma-tang, where we had passed the night, we fell in with the Chinese Amban and his train on their way to Lhasa. First came numerous parties on horseback, then about three hundred men on foot carrying all the paraphernalia common to Chinese processions, and finally the Amban’s chair carried by Chinese and sixteen Tibetans, the latter only holding strings attached to the poles to show that they were assisting in the work. Two Chinese armed with whips kept the way clear.
On November 24 I found myself once more at Tashilhunpo, and immediately set to work to prepare for a trip to Sakya, from whence it was my intention to proceed directly to India. A day or so after my arrival I was delighted at the receipt of a passport from the new Shape of Shigatse, permitting me to proceed to India and return to Tibet. It had been obtained at the instance of my friend, the minister. [[237]]
[1] It is a shrub (Symplocos) common in Sikkim. See Hooker, ‘Himalayan Journals,’ ii. 41. Tso (or Tsos) is not, I believe, the Tibetan name of the plant, but only means “dye.”—(W. R.) [↑]