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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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were rather interesting ; I give copies. Another carving about a mile out, on the road to Pangkong (lake) of a stag hunt, thus [drawing]. A large and rough outline of Buddha on a rock seems to be fairly new—newer than some chortens on the same rock. I found no kings' names or votive inscriptions on maOs at Drangtse, and the clay tablets were all of the chorten type, without letters, as far as I could see. Chushol yielded nothing of antiquarian interest, and I found nothing more till I got to Nyoma on the Indus. "

Let me now add a few notes on Dr. Shave's most valuable observations. I may remark that he was the first traveller who ever passed through this district with his eyes open to objects of archeological value. In 1906, I had travelled with Dr. Shawe as far as Chemre (lCe-bde) where we had investigated the monastery built by Seng-gernam-rgyal. We became thoroughly convinced that there had existed a monastery previously on the same site. I went up the valley from Chemre to Sal: ti on a hurried visit, and as Dr. Shawe points out, in his letter, visil:ed only the latest of three ancient castles. The first European traveller who visited the Chemre-Sakti valley, was Moorcroft in 1820. He also noticed the " fort " of Sakti which was already in ruins in his time. What he saw was also the newest of the three old castles. " Thus, the two older ones still remain to be investigated. Moorcroftl says : " On the face of the mountain, forming part of the eastern limit of the valley, stood the fort of Sakti, a pile of buildings surrounded by a wall and towers, the whole built of granite blocks cemented with clay ; the houses were unroofed, but the walls were mostly standing. This fortress was evidently intended to command the northern entrance of the valley, but it was taken and dismantled by the Kalmaks nearly two centuries ago and has never been repaired. "

The Kalmaks who dismantled this fortress, were evidently the Mongols and Lhasa Tibetans under Thse-dbang of Galdan, who after having beaten the Ladakhis in the battle of Zhamarting, besieged them in the fortress of Basgo. On their way to Basgo, 1646, they probably destroyed all the fortresses of eastern Ladakh. As we learn from Moorcroft, the Chemre-Sakti valley was under the command of the famous Ladakhi minister Bang-kha who ruled over seventy villages. The family of these Bang-khas evidently had the hereditary office of ' defender of the eastern gates of Ladakh. Their principal castle was the gSer-khri-mkhar of Igu, in the neighbouring valley, where there are anany

ancient ruins, among them walls with frescoes in front of huge carvings of B6dhisattvas. One of the great generals of bDe-ldanr nam-rgyal (c.1630 A.D.) was a Bang-kha-pa from Igu. We also find a Bang-kha-pa in a high position of command during the first part of the Dúgrà war, when he did not quite justify the confidence placed in him.

As regards the other places of archwological interest mentioned by Dr. Shawe.

they were not noticed by Trebeck on his way to the Pangkong lake. But Trebeck gives an interesting description of a festival he witnessed at Drangtse. As regards the inscription " mostly, but not entirely Tibetan, " Dr. Shawe's copy of it was sent to Dr. Vogel, who said that it probably dated from c. 700-900 A.D., judging by the form of the characters used. It contained the Buddhist formula Yë dharmö, etc., which,

j Travels, Voh 1, p 426.

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