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although the chronicles do not contain any statement to that effect. On the walls of this temple are found frescoes : for instance, a series of pictures illustrating the Buddha legend, viz., Buddha's conception, -birth, seven steps in the four directions, etc. Their execution is of a ruder type than that of the paintings on the rNam-rgyal-rise-mo. But the most important pictures in this hall are undoubtedly those which represent the royal family. All the male members wear turbans and look almost like ]Vlughals. The servants are also furnished with turbans, and the royal ladies seem to wear some form of the bei'ag, mentioned above. There is another portrait of an historical personage on one of the walls, that of the famous laina sTag-thsang-ras-pa, which is evidently a later addition. Besides the huge statue of Maitréya, I noticed a few small images in the hall of the same temple. One of them again represents sTag-thsang-ras-pa, the other a four-armed Avalvkitésvara.
The Seljang monastery of Basgo is established in the ancient royal palace. It contains a huge statue of Maitréya which was erected by king Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal, about 1610 A.D., and which is in remarkably good preservation. Several large jewels still remain on it. We saw only the upper part of the image, as; the key not being procurable, we could not enter the hall of the temple. This building contains a very large library, consisting mostly of loose sheets, which is the ancient library of the kings of Ladakh. Dr. K. Marx, who was the first European to draw attention to it, proposed to convey it to the Leh palace, arrange it properly, and appoint one of the Moravian Missionaries as chief librarian. The gallery above the Seljang monastery contains a number of very rude frescoes which are furnished with explanatory inscriptions ; and also the remains of a very long historical inscription of King Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal's time. We took a photo of what remains of the latter.
There is a great number of ancient mchod-rten at Basgo. We examined only two of them. One is called Kha-gan-stong-sku, and is furnished with three (originally four) doors. K1 a-gan is probably a corruption of the word K/ianggani, " door." It is called stong-skku, " one thousand images," on account of the many little pictures of blue, Buddha-like figures, which are painted on the walls and the ceiling. The pictures have mostly faded. I am of opinion that it is a monument of the Bon religion of former days. We found all kinds of old rubbish below the roof, and amongst it a well moulded image of sGrol-ma (Tara) made of burnt clay.
The other prominent mchod-rten of Basgo is called Rag pa (Plate XXXVI, a), It is situated at the entrance of the gorge leading up to the plain on the road to Saspola. This mchod-T ten which is attributed to Lama Rin- ;hen-bzang-po, is of pyramidal shape. Its ground-plan has the form of a star and the dome is furnished with niches which originally must have contained images of Buddha, like the Mayai-gser-mo at Leh.
In the evening of the same day, whilst the caravan went straight to Saspola,
I marched to Likir, with Puntsog, my Tibetan assistant, whom I had engaged at Leh, The Likir monastery is mentioned in the chronicles of Ladakh as having been erected by King Lha-chen-rgyal-po (c.1050--1080 A. D.). I had visited it before, but could find no record confirming the statement of the chronicles. The object of my present visit
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