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

monastery, believing that this monastery would be the most suitable abode for the statue.
However, a hundred men could not move it. Then a clever lama guessed that the image
wished to be set up in its present place. And lo, when they tried to take it there, a
single man could easily carry it.

On the evening of the 24th, I went to have a look at the castle of Kyahar which is
only three miles distant from Chang. This castle is more imposing and of greater
dimensions than I have yet seen in these mountains. It is supposed to have been built
by the king of Rāmpur (in about 1650 A.D.) who probably wished to fortify the
frontiers of his new territory. People told me that the castle was famous for its
beautiful frescoes, and I was sorry not to be able to go and examine them. I asked,
however, Mr. Cargill, of the Public Works Department, whom I met a few days after in
Spiti, to go and inspect the pictures, if his journey should take him that way. He told me
afterwards that he had actually been to Kyahar and made inquiries about the frescoes.
People told him that there had been pictures, but that they had all disappeared.
On the way to Kyahar, I noticed a short inscription in Ṭākari on one of the boulders
on the roadside. It is unintelligible, but interesting, as testifying to the use of that
script in these parts.

I was told that there is a small, but ancient monastery at Kyahar, which local tra-
dition also connects with the famous Rin-chen-bzang-po. It is called Lha-brang and
belongs to the Gelugpa order. Although I was assured that it contained ancient pictures,
I could not manage to visit it. Nor did I see the ancient stone sculpture at Kyahar
which is said to be similar to the Avalokitéśvara of Chang, mentioned above.

On a rock below the present village of Kyahar are extensive ruins of a deserted
village. I am told that the people of Kyahar were invited to settle round the present
stately castle, and therefore exchanged sites.

On the 26th we started on our march through a desert which separates Spiti from
the Bashahr State. We had to spend three days in absolutely bare and uninhabited
country, before the first village of the territory of Spiti was reached. The first march
took us to the Zangzam bridge, which spans a tributary of the Spiti river. Here the
road leads through Tibetan territory for several miles, and the camp on the bridge as well
as our next camp at Horling was on Tibetan ground. There are several sulphur springs
in the vicinity of the bridge, which contain rather hot water. The natives have hewn
out little basins in which they bathe. Crystallized sulphur and some white salt (probably
borax) are found near the wells. I collected some water plants which I found growing
in the hot sulphurous water.

The 26th July was spent in the same desert on our march to Horling, a desert camp-
ing-place on the Spiti river. I had expected to have an archæological holiday in this
uninhabitable region. But that was not so. Strange to say, we passed by mani walls, from
time to time, and several of the stones placed on, or by the side of, the walls, were of un-
usual interest. I found here four or five stones which must have been carved in the 15th
century. They contained the names of the great reformer Tsong-kha-pa and three of his
contemporaries, mKhas-grub-pa (1384-1437), Lha-dbang-blo-gros (1388-1462), -and