Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 110 (Color Image)

0110	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

78 PEKING TO LHASA

last moment to Ta-chien-lu, after removing his

Christians to a place of safety. Several priests

of Batang have been massacred. And one at

Tao-fu was imprisoned by the Tibetans for sixteen

days with his arms and legs chained together.

Also his beard was pulled out.

From Meng-kung he might have taken a more

direct route by Fu-pien and the Hung-ch'iao Pass,

16,280 feet, and struck the Min River at Hsin-pau-

kuan on the road to Choni, an important town

about 100 miles south of Lan-chow, but he only

heard of this route after he had made all his

preparations to go by Kwan-hsien. So he left

Meng-kung on January 19 for that town. The

country was now fairly well inhabited. At Kuan-

chai, a village of fifty-five families, mostly Chinese,

there lived the Tu-ssu of the Tibetan tribe, the

Ooje. His palace was a curious square building

with a high tower in the centre and buildings

resembling temples on the south-east corners.

The courtyard was small and interesting. It

looked very old and had some fine wood carving.

The architecture was like old Saxon. Pereira

climbed up uneven stairs to a reception-room where

the Tu-ssu, dressed like a Chinese, received him.

But as he could not speak Chinese, Pereira soon

took his leave.

The next day he reached Jih - lung - kuan,

11,050 feet, and here on the following day he had

to leave the valley of the Hsiao-chin and ascend

a tributary to the south in order to cross the

Pa-lang (generally written Balan on maps), the

range dividing the Ta-tu and Min Rivers. A stiff

climb brought him to a solitary inn which bore

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