IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Across Asia : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
RECORDS OF THE JOURNEY
| at Takulan 1,50o Mongols and Buriats I0--20 Tibetans 4-5,000 altogether | at Ta Ehr sui 3,000 Tibetans 7o-8o Mongols 1-2,000 Tibetans . 20-30 Mongols . . | at Yutai Shan 2,000-2,50o Mongols in winter 7o-8o Tibetans .... I —I,500 Mongols .. in summer 10-20 Tibetans .... | ||
The Dalai Lama's old officiating lama said that the number of visitors was 10-20,000 a month, which is an undoubted exaggeration and rather indicates that the actual number does not satisfy the Dalai Lama and his supporters. It was also mentioned with special satisfaction that a very large number of Tibetans had arrived recently. This was my acquaintance the prince from Si-an-fu with his companions, amounting to barely a hundred at most.
I called on the old lama once more in order to obtain written permission to visit Lhassa in,the future, but the Dalai Lama sent me a reply that he could not fulfil my request, as it might give rise to dissatisfaction or even disturbances in Tibet, but that he would give me permission to visit him in Lhassa, if, on another journey in Asia, I would send a messenger (!) with a request. — Later in the evening more gifts from the Dalai Lama were brought to me: 28 yards of very narrow, reddish-brown Tibetan cloth, 5 bundles of incense sticks and a white »hatak», this time not of silk. At the same time he sent word that he was unable to end his letter, as he had not received an answer that he was expecting. Evidently, he had changed his mind. He asked me to leave the cartridges that I had promised him, with a Buriat lama who lived in Peiping.
From Yutai Shan the road to Tatung fu led at first along the same gorge that we June 28th. followed when we arrived. After 2 I /2 miles we left it and took a WNW direction. The Mukatsun road led past a small temple, painted red, with a tall tower, up a very stony mountain slope. village. The road zigzagged very much. It was steep and very stony, but on the whole fairly tolerable. It was said to have been repaired in consequence of the visit of the Dalai Lama. After two hours' journey, mostly on foot, we reached the Sydza Jiang pass, a long saddle between slightly higher mountains. Barometer No. I indicated 567.7. The distance from Yutai Shan was said to be 20 li. An old, very dilapidated monastery, Ta sui yuen or Suitzu wu, lies high up on the pass. It has a tall tower of many storeys, faced with tiles that sparkle in the sun, blue with small yellow images in bas relief. On the peak some large fir-trees were growing and other plants crept along the whole of the half-ruined tower. The monastery was supposed to have been built by the wife of the Emperor Wan-li. There was a large bronze lion of beautiful workmanship in the tower, supporting an image of gilded clay seated in a lotus blossom. The back wall of the main building was occupied by 3 large seated »Pi-lu-fu».
The mountain we had crossed seemed to go in a NW—SE direction. Further to the W there were two long mountains of approximately the same height as ours and much further off a considerably higher mountain range going approximately in a S—N direction. — We descended along a small gorge to the WNW. The road was not nearly so steep, but
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