Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 82 (Color Image)

0082	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

52 PEKING TO LHASA

clouds. He passed rhododendrons in bloom. On

July 7 he ascended the slopes, passing some fine

banyan trees. Crowds of beggars and numbers of

pilgrims coming down the mountain were met

also many women on foot, some quite old and

with small feet, trudging down with the aid of a

stick. As he ascended higher there were splendid

views up narrow valleys with well-wooded sides

and a raging torrent coursing down them. Rain

unfortunately came on and spoilt much of the

enjoyment.

The monks (hou-sheng) of the lower class,

fourteen in all, welcomed him at the Wan-nien-

ssu monastery with great cordiality, and gave

him some fine, big, clean rooms. And up there

it was quite cool. In the afternoon he visited

the famous bronze elephant, said by Baber to be

the oldest cast bronze figure of any great size in

the world. It stands about 12 feet high and

is gilded over. Very well modelled, its thick legs

stand on four bronze lotuses. It is surrounded

by a wooden cage like in a zoo. It supports on

its back a huge lotus on which sits a fine Buddha

with a crown of glory.

The temple, which Baber says is, after the

Great Wall, the oldest Chinese building in exist-

ence, has a square base. But by an ingenious

arrangement of triangles, segments of circles and

projections, it supports a dome. In a neigh-

bouring chamber an old monk showed Pereira

one of the four teeth of Buddha. It was a piece

of ivory, evidently the molar of some mammoth. On July 8 he ascended Mount Omei, 10,940

feet. There was a continual stream of pilgrims

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