The wind was blowing violently when we resumed our journey, and the dust was so thick that we had to stop at Ge-chung, a little village to the west of the Singma la.
At daybreak we set out again, and after crossing the Re chu (here called Shab chu), along whose banks are numerous hamlets, we came to Lhimpotse, near which is a large lamasery built on a rocky eminence.[2]
We stopped for the night at Samdong, just beyond which village is a long wooden bridge. We got accommodation in the house of a [[238]]rich villager, the younger of the two husbands (and they not brothers) of the woman of the house. The other husband was the headman, or Sa-yong, and when he appeared, he obligingly sold us very good chang, mutton, onions, and other vegetables.
December 3.—After drinking a cup of steaming chang[3] we set out, and following the course of the Shab chu, came to where the Tsarong chu empties into it, when we took up the course of this stream and followed it to its source.
Several miles above the village of Sikya, where cultivation practically ceases, we came to the large Dokpa village of Jig-kyong, where we stopped for the night. In all the villages small-pox was raging, and where the people were free from it, they showed great apprehension about letting us in, lest we should introduce the dreaded disease among them.
The next day (December 4) we crossed the Shong la,[4] which, though quite high, was of easy ascent, and traversed the Tao valley. After taking lunch at the Kham-yol we came to the Aton la, from whose summit Sakya is visible, with all its red-walled buildings and gilded spires,[5] bearing in a north-westerly direction.
We secured lodgings in a house in the town, near the bridge over the Tom chu, and from the window of my room, which opened to the south, I had a gorgeous view of the town by which the river gently flows; also of the great temple, and beyond these, of the snow-covered peaks of Tinki (Tingri) and Pherrug.
In the evening I strolled about the clean, though narrow streets, where the market people were still busy selling their wares.
Sakya is built on the eastern flank of Ponpoi ri, along whose base flows the Tom chu. Facing the town, but on the other side of the river, is the Lha-khang chenpo with its famous library and temple.
The appearance of Sakya is different from that of most Tibetan towns. The walls of almost all the public buildings, temples, and dwelling-houses are painted red with a clay obtained from the neighbouring hills. Black and blue stripes about nine inches broad cut the walls perpendicularly.[6] [[239]]