for the road, being so stony and uneven, would then have been absolutely impossible when frozen over. At times the horses had to climb several fathoms up a rough, steep spur of rock, at others they would wriggle like snakes between blocks of stone of all sizes. The mountains were not very high. The walls of rock were exposed and many of them were of a beautiful red shade. There were no grassy slopes. Very soon the gorge grew narrower and the sides of the mountains became very steep. Not quite 3 miles from the mouth of the gorge there was a military post (2 or 3 men) of the Li Yuan garrison, quartered in a rectangular tower built of stone. A mile or two beyond we passed a small temple on the steep slope of the bank and immediately after, in a wider part of the gorge, a poor house inhabited by Chinese. At times the gorge became slightly wider, but very soon grew narrower again. The road grew rougher and rougher. About 8 miles from the military post the mountains increased considerably in size. The slopes were less steep and firs appeared on those
facing N and W.
About 12 miles from the military post we came to the spot where the two arms of the river separated, after crossing a meadow formed by them, a couple of miles in length. We followed the arm on the left, called Khite gol, and for the remaining 3-4 miles of the day's journey we proceeded in a definitely southward direction. The mountain grew slightly smaller again. Grass grew on the slopes and on the banks of the river.
The Kanglungsu lamasery stands on the lower slope of some small hills. At a distance only one of the conical columns of a stupa so common in Buddhist countries was visible and we did not catch sight of the collection of houses until we were almost among them. It consisted of a large temple, painted red, brown, grey and white, with gilded roof decoration, and a smaller temple, with a couple of large and several small buildings grouped round it. With the exception of a group of houses like a temple, occupied occasionally by the senior lama of the tribe, and a couple of buildings, one of which was used by the Thumu during his visits and the other belonged to an old lama, now dead, the houses can scarcely be called anything but low huts. Timber is the principal building material, only the interstices being filled with clay. Columns are used very much both indoors and in the outer walls. Most of the rooms are completely dark, very small and black with soot. A kang, heated with coal and dry manure, lifted into the room by removing a couple of boards in the ceiling, takes up nearly all the space. No Buddha altars or decorations of any kind were visible in the houses of the lamas I visited. Some blankets, a fur coat, cups, bowls, a basin for coal and a couple of chests or cupboard-like boxes was all that was to be seen. A wide, deep bench, like a bed, without arms, for which the wall served as a back, stood outside the door. It was a favourite seat and was probably used as a bed in summer.
The temple, said to be the principal religious shrine of the Shera Yögurs, was large and rich. In size and architectural style it resembled the monastery of Kura belonging to the Surgan summun Kalmuks. The same colonnade of small wooden pillars led up to the altar, on the left of which stood the armchair of the head lama. The front of the building faced east and was decorated with pictures of warriors like those you see outside any yamen. The four sides of the temple were formed of four narrow buildings with decor-
IIIFカラー高解像度
