CHAPTER XIV
MY FIRST MISSION TO BHUTAN—continued
From Tashi-cho-jong to Tongsa-jong. Simtoka-jong. Entry into Poonakha. The Deb Raja. Presentation of K.C.I.E. Description of Poonakha Fort. Expedition to Norbugang and Talo Monasteries. Visit of the Tango Lama. So-na-ga-sa the Zemri-gatchie of Turner. Farewell visit to the Deb. Angdu-phodang. Death of my dog Nari. The Pele-la. Tongsa-jong. Bad roads. Water-power prayer-wheels. The ceremony of blessing the rice-fields.
We left Tashi-cho-jong early next morning in lovely weather, with the thunder of a salute of thirty guns reverberating through the air, and soon arrived at Simtoka-jong, which is situated on a projecting ridge, with deep gullies separating it from the main hill. It looks old, and is not in very good repair. On the four sides of the central square tower, instead of the usual row of prayer-wheels, we found a row of square slabs of dark slate, carved in low relief with pictures of saints and holy men. It was a wonderful collection of different types, with no monotonous repetition of the same figure, whence derived I cannot imagine, unless, indeed, of Chinese origin, as the variety reminded me of the 1000 statues in the temple in Canton, where one figure is pointed out as Marco Polo. In Simtoka one face is a very unflattering likeness of the German Emperor. In the chapel itself, beneath a magnificent carved canopy, was one of the finest bronze images of Buddha that I have seen; it was supported on either side by a number of standing figures of more than life size.
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