Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 254 (Color Image)

0254	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

186 PEKING TO LHASA

special audience room behind the barracks, having

walked there from his charming villa just behind.

He was without a hat and was dressed in a

picturesque long orange robe with a bright yellow

jacket. He was close shaven, but with a small

twisted moustache and a minute beard. On

Pereira entering he remained seated. Pereira

then presented him with a khata (ceremonial scarf)

and received a very fine large one in return.

After this Pereira took a seat, and quite an in-

teresting conversation followed, for he found the

Dalai Lama very intelligent. The Lama himself

drank Tibetan tea, but he gave Pereira Indian

tea and milk in a little English tea-service.

After this visit Pereira called on the Prime

Minister, " Long Chin " by name, in the Potala.

He was a nice old man. But his office, consisting

of three small rooms, had to be reached by a flight

of slippery stone steps and long dark passages.

Pereira also, while at Lhasa, visited the great Sera monastery, which nominally has 5500 monks,

though he would have estimated the number as

lower. The way to it leads across a sandy plain,

and it is situated at the foot of bare stony hills 21. miles north of the Potala. It is a regular little town from 600 to 800 yards long, with

streets of two- or three-storied houses. There are

three big temples with gold roofs of the usual small

Chinese pattern. On the whole, Pereira was dis-

appointed with the monastery. If there were five

thousand monks, it was only a little bigger than the

Labrang monastery in Kansu, and for situation

and general appearance Labrang is much finer.

The Commander-in-Chief came to say good-bye

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