National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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-surroundings'. But the Dard civilisation apparently went beyond the present Tibetan boundary, for on Sven Hedin's new map I find a district near Ruthog called Monyul, a naine which evidently refers to a former colonization by Mons or Dards.

On the 17th August, we passed by the borax and sulphur mines of Phuga, 14,300 feet high, and saw some of the hot springs in the valley. The houses near the mines were uninhabited, but did not appear to be very old. It was apparently here that the Ladakhi kings obtained the sulphur which they sent to Kula between 1650 and 1836 A.D. In Kula, this sulphur was exchanged for iron according to the trade contract between Ladakh and Kula.2 In one of the old mohod-rten at the upper end of the Phuga valley, we found a terra-cotta inscribed with Indian characters. This makes it probable that the mines were worked already by the ancient Mons (or Dards). As there are so many hot sulphurous springs in the valley, some even in the middle of the river bed, the -air is in many places full of sulphurous gases.

We crossed the Phologongkha Pass (16,500 feet) on the same day, and had our camp on the shore of another large lake called mThso-d kar (White Lake) by the Tibetans, and " Salt Lake " by the cartographers. The elevation of this lake is 14,900 feet according to Drew. The first European to visit this lake was Trebeck, who passed by it in 1820, on his journey to Spiti. He calls it Thog ji chenmo, which is evidently the name of the monastery Thugs-rje-chen-po on the shore of the lake. This justifies our conclusion that this little monastery was already in existence in 1820. I was told that the present buildings were erected only a few years ago, instead of an older establishment which consisted mainly of cave dwellings. The present monastery contains only a few modern Tibetan books and a stucco statue of Avalókitésvara, after whom it is called,

Thugs-r j e-then po.

In the vicinity I noticed a cave, the entrance to which was closed by a stone wall,

and this stone wall again had several clay seals impressed on it. Both kinds of seals showed complicated designs of the svastika. It is probable that some evil spirit was believed thus to be shut up in the cave. From one of the little houses near the monastery was suspended a piece of wood shaped like the male organ, painted red. As we read

in the chronicles of Ladakh, King Lha-chen-rgyal-po (c. 1050-1080 A.D.), provided with untiring zeal the recluses that lived in the neighbourhood of the Kailása and the three lakes with the necessaries of life." This passage undoubtedly refers to the Manasarowar lake in the first place, but it may also refer to the lakes of Rubshu, for I am fully convinced that, although no ancient remains have been discovered in them, yet the monasteries on the Thsomo Riri as well as on the Salt Lake are of great age. On the Pangkong Lake no monastery exists.

As the Salt Lake is surrounded by marshes, it does not make such a pretty picture as the Thsomo Riri, and the Kbyagar Lake. The best view is probably obtained from the site of the little monastery. The following notes are taken from Drew who gives a very interesting geological account of this lake. The former level of the lake, as shown

1 SeP my translation of the eighteen songs of the Bonopa festival, Ind. An*,, V ol. XXXIV, p. 93.

2 See the account of the trade in my pamphlet ` Die religiösen und historischen Erinnerungen der Lahoulei.'