[12] Kedesho Jong of the maps. A. K., who passed through it the same year, only a fortnight before our author, calls it Chitishio Jong. He says there are about a thousand houses in it.—‘Report on the Explor. made by A. K.,’ p. 84.—(W. R.) [↑]
[13] Shanpa means “boatman,” not boat.—(W. R.) [↑]
[14] Ta-chien-lu, on the border of Sze-chuen. The Dorje-tag (Rdo-rje brag) lamasery has given its name to a sect. See Waddell, op. cit., 73. [↑]
[15] This seems to be the same custom as obtains in Eastern Tibet, where all corpses are kept until the crops have been reaped, and then either fed to vultures, burnt or otherwise disposed of. See ‘Land of the Lamas,’ p. 286. The text is not quite clear, for it does not state whether or not the corpses are kept permanently in the houses of the parents.—(W. R.) [↑]
[16] Called Tsong-ka on the maps. All this route was again gone over by Ugyen-gyatso in 1883. See ‘Report on Explorations from 1856 to 1886,’ p. 28 et sqq. He says (p. 29) that the river at Tsong-ka is over a mile broad. King Me agtsoms was the father of Tisrong detsan, of whom our author has so often occasion to speak. He reigned over Tibet in the latter half of the seventh century, A.D.—(W. R.) [↑]
[17] The Gokhar la crossed by Nain Singh in 1873. Dechen djong is on the Kyi chu, a day’s journey east of Lhasa.—(W. R.) [↑]
[18] Chyema (bye-ma) means “sand,” nagshu probably means “black.”—(W. R.) [↑]
[19] I cannot conceive how a chorten can resemble a dorje (vajra). The comparison is not a happy one.—(W. R.) [↑]
[20] Perhaps she came from Litang. The women there wear a large silver plaque on either side of the head, which meet over the crown in a point, so that, from a distance, the head-dress looks not unlike a pointed cap.—(W. R.) [↑]
[21] These are the subjects usually seen in such frescoes throughout Tibet and Mongolia.—(W. R.) [↑]