[37] Called Chiang-li by the Chinese.—(W. R.) [↑]

[38] The name is also written Nyer-tam. The Chinese call it Yeh-tang. Atisha came from India to Tibet in A.D. 1083. His proper Indian name was Dipankara Srijnana.—(W. R.) [↑]

[39] What the Chinese call chan. They are ridiculously short on the high-road between Lhasa and China, and probably elsewhere. This is so as to make the ula less oppressive, and I suspect it has something to do with the allowances of the Chinese officers who have to travel over it, and which are regulated by stages, not by miles travelled.—(W. R.) [↑]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER VI.

RESIDENCE AT LHASA.

Preceded by Pador carrying his long lance and by Tsing-ta driving the pack-pony, we entered the city. The policemen (korchagpa)[1] marked us as new-comers, but none of them questioned us. My head drooped with fatigue, my eyes were hidden by dark goggles, and the red pagri around my head made me look like a Ladaki. Some people standing in front of a Chinese pastry shop said, as I passed, “Look! there comes another sick man; small-pox has affected his eyes. The city is full of them. What an awful time for Tibet!”

After a few minutes’ ride we came to the Yu-tog zamba, a short stone bridge with a gate, where a guard commanded by a lama is stationed, which examines all passers-by to ascertain the object of their visit to the city. To the great delight of my companions, who had been most anxious about my getting over the bridge, we passed by without a question being asked us.

Near the bridge I noticed the doring,[2] a monolith on which is an inscription in Tibetan and Chinese. Though a thousand years old, the stone has been but little affected by the weather, and the characters can be easily read. The monolith I took to be between eight and ten feet in height, and it stands on a low pedestal.

At the Yu-tog zamba the city proper begins. The street on both sides was lined with native and Chinese shops; in front of each was a pyramidal structure, where juniper spines and dried leaves obtained from Tsari are burnt as an offering to the gods. [[149]]