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.
- ↑ I have always heard policemen called sa sung (srung) pa by Tibetans. The word used by our author seems to be khor che (byed) pa, which would correspond to "patrol-men." Huc says that Lhasa is about two leagues in circumference, and A. K. that it is about six miles.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Doring (or rdo ring) means "ancient stone," or "stone from long ago." On the inscription here referred to, see Jour. Roy. As. Soc. (new series), vol. xii. 486 et sqq.; and vol. xxiii. p. 264. Yu-tog zamba means "blue roofed bridge."—(W. R.)
