sentences of English from the 'Royal Reader No. 1' with him. After this I asked to be allowed to visit the great temple of Gyantse, called the "Palkhor choide." "If you want to visit Gyantse," he replied, "I will arrange it for you; but you must bear in mind that the people of that town are not good. They speak much, and are given to spinning a great deal out of a little. I will have the Tung-chen take you there." Ugyen-gyatso then asked if he might go there, as he wanted to buy me some blankets; and having obtained the minister's authorization, he left at noon.
January 1, 1882.–For about half an hour the minister practised writing the Roman characters on a wooden slate (chyang-shing) about two feet long and ten inches broad. A little bag of powdered chalk was tied to it; and when the slate had been washed and dried, the minister rubbed the chalk-bag lightly over the board, and thus covered it with a thin white film. In this he scratched letters with a steel style about a foot long. I told him of the slates we had in India–how much more convenient and neat they were than his rude contrivance. He smiled and said, "My chyang-shing is a very nice one; even the great ministers of China use the like;[1] but they are not clean. And if you can get me a couple of your Indian slates from Calcutta, I shall be much obliged."
January 2.–In the morning preparations were made for a grand reception of the Dahpon Phala and Kung Chyang-chan, the Tsipon[2]. All the furniture of the room we occupied was replaced by choice articles from the minister's storeroom. Silk drapings and curtains were hung in the waiting-room and lobby, beautiful silk cushions were spread in the minister's drawing-room, and its ceiling made resplendent with a covering of orange-coloured Chinese brocade. Artistically worked dragons appeared everywhere–on the ceiling draperies, on the curtains, and even in the carpets. Handsome dining-tables, three feet by eighteen inches, and two feet high, were placed before each cushioned seat. The minister's seat was placed as usual before a gilt chapel (niche), and three feet above the floor, on his right hand, were seats, two feet high, for his two guests, and to his left two other cushioned seats, about eighteen inches high, for their
- ↑ The minister was not correctly informed, So far as I am aware, the Chinese never use this kind of "white board." It is, however, in general use among the Western Mongols, where paper is quite as mare as in most places in Tibet.–(W. R.)
- ↑ A Tsipon is an accounting officer, and is assimilated by the Chinese to a 4th class official among them.–(W. R.)
