There is also preserved in this temple a conch shell with whorls turning from left to right, a present of Kublai to Phagpa. It is only blown by the lamas when the request is accompanied by a present of seven ounces of silver; but to blow it, or have it blown, is held to be an act of great merit.[1]
On December 5 I left Sakya, and passing by the Choskhor-lhunpo monastery, entered the broad Yalung valley, in which stands the big village of Lora and numerous scattered hamlets. We stopped at Lora to eat our breakfast, but so intense was the fear of the people of small-pox, of which there were several cases in the village, that they would have absolutely nothing to do with us, not even to sell us firewood.[2]
After crossing the Yalung river we ascended the Dong la, from whose summit we saw the Chomo kankar (Mt. Everest), and the endless ranges of mountains which jut out from it westward. At the Dong la the Arun and the Kosi have their sources.
The descent of the Dong la was very gradual, the country extremely bare, not a single tree was to be seen anywhere. We reached Chu-sho, at the foot of the pass, at about five o'clock, and it was only after much persuasion that we gained admittance to a poor hut occupied by an old woman and her son.
The next day we followed for a while the course of a little stream, called the Chu-shu, and then came upon a broad, barren plain, on either side of which rose bleak and lofty mountains.
Leaving the village of Map-ja, in which there are about one hundred houses, we breakfasted at Donkar, and then made our way towards the Shong-pa la, following up the course of the Shong chu. The ground in many places was riddled with holes made by a burrowing animal called srimong,[3] and our ponies had many tumbles by putting their feet in them.
- ↑ Called in Tibetan, Ya chyil dung-kar; and in Chinese, Yu hsuan pai-lei. Both nations consider such shells as treasures of inestimable value. There is one in China, kept at Fu chu by the Ti-tuh. See Peking Gazette, February 23, 1867, and one at Lhasa. 'The Land of the Lamas,' p. 110.—(W. R.)
- ↑ "In 1794 the Tale lama, under orders from the Emperor, erected special hospitals for small-pox patients, in which they were supplied with food and every necessary, and which were in care of a special officer. . . . The same plan has been adopted by the authorities of Tashilhunpo and Chamdo" (Jour. Roy. Asiat. Soc., n.s. xxiii. p. 235). I am not aware that these hospitals are kept up at the present day.—(W. R.)
- ↑ The marmot is called Chyi (phyi)-wa. Mong I am unable to explain; perhaps it is the same animal which our author calls elsewhere the sremong (sri), and which is
