Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 180 (Color Image)

0180	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

134 PEKING TO LHASA

been erected by the river-side, and on it was a big

bowl probably filled with holy water. After a

short ceremony, accompanied by beating of gongs

and clanging of cymbals, the monks dispersed.

Later the son of the king of the twenty-five

Gaba tribes passed the fair on his way to Jye-

ku monastery. He was escorted by some fifty

Tibetans preceded by Chinese soldiers with banners

and trumpets.

Jye-kundo, though far from being a fashionable

summer resort, was to Pereira infinitely preferable

to Tangar. He found interest in strolling by the

river outside the town and watching Tibetan life

in summer weather. To the south was the Chieh-

kou river, generally quite shallow, with two plank

bridges across it. It breaks into several channels,

between which are flat stretches of very green

grass on which were pitched several of the white

tents of Tibetan merchants who were squatting

inside them with the side walls fastened up.

Hundreds of naked boys were running about,

some in circles, some in lines, all in the highest

spirits. Small groups by the road-side were chat-

ting, turning prayer wheels or spinning cotton.

One party of girls were playing with a skipping

rope ; another small girl had a garland of flowers

round her brow like a miniature Ophelia. Around

in the valley and on the lower slopes were green

fields of young barley.

Prices at Jye - kundo were absurdly high.

Tsamba cost four times as much as it cost at

Tangar. The Commandant, or Ma P'u-chou, was

a Mohammedan, tall and of military bearing and

very agreeable. Pereira called on him, and he told

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