We stopped at Daru at the foot of the hill covered by Debung and its park, and Pador went to look up a friend whom he was desirous of attaching to my service. After an hour’s delay he returned without having found him, and we pushed on, passing the far-famed temple of Nachung chos kyong, where resides the oracle by whom the Government is guided in all important affairs. The temple is a fine edifice of dark red colour, built after the Chinese style, and has a gilt spire surmounting it. At this point the road nears the river, and the whole city stood displayed before us at the end of an avenue of gnarled trees, the rays of the setting sun falling on its gilded domes. It was a superb sight, the like of which I have never seen. On our left was Potala with its lofty buildings and gilt roofs; before us, surrounded by a green meadow (maidan), lay the town with its tower-like, whitewashed houses and Chinese buildings with roofs of blue glazed tiles. Long festoons of inscribed and painted rags hung from one building to another, waving in the breeze.
Beyond Daru the road lay for a while through a marsh (dam-tso) overgrown with rank grass; numerous ditches drained the water into the river, and at the north-east end of the marsh we could distinguish [[147]]the famous monastery of Sera. Beyond a high sand embankment on our left was the park and palace of Norbu linga, and the beautiful grove of Kemai tsal, in the midst of which stands the palace of Lhalu, the father of the last Dalai lama.
At 4 p.m. we passed Kunduling, the residence of the regent, and entered the city by the western gateway, called the Pargo kaling chorten, and my heart leaped with exultation as I now reached the goal of my journey—the far-famed city of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. [[148]]
[1] See my ‘Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet,’ p. 256, where two such tea-churns are shown.—(W. R.) [↑]
[2] I think our author was misinformed. Rampa (Polygonum viviparum, L.) does not grow as described here. Rampa seed is eaten, after being parched and ground, mixed with tsamba. Choma (Potentilla anserina), also eaten all over Tibet wherever it occurs, is dug out of the ground; it is not a grain, however, but a small root. I think Chandra Das must refer to choma, though it is a small tuber not over 1½ inches long.—(W. R.) [↑]
[3] Lama Serap gyatsho says there are three different kinds of Lobas, viz. Lo Karpo, Lo Nagpo, and Lo Tawa, or Lo Khabta. The Lo Karpo means “white, and little civilized.” The Lo Nagpo means “black, and little civilized.” The Lo Tawas, or stripped Lobas, meaning “quite barbarous Lobas,” live on the lower part of the Tsangpo, on the east bank. They are said to kill the mother of the bride in performing their marriage ceremony, when they do not find any wild men, and eat her flesh. Report on Explorations, etc., p. 7. See also ibid., pp. 16, 17; and Pundit Nain Singh’s Journey, in Jour. Roy. Geo. Soc., vol. xlvii. p. 120. [↑]
[4] Og khang means “lower house,” as opposed to Gong khang, “upper house, or story.”—(W. R.) [↑]
[5] Torma offerings are cones made of tsamba, butter, treacle, and sugar, and not unfrequently of cardboard, and sometimes painted red, blue, or green. They are placed in front of the images of malignant gods as propitiatory offerings. See Waddell, op. cit., 297. On the word nyihok, see supra, p. 77.—(W. R.) [↑]
[6] One of these libation bowls is represented on p. 90 of ‘Land of the Lamas.’—(W. R.) [↑]