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

Then one of the ropes broke, just as one of the bags was right in the middle of the steel
rope, and we spent a very exciting time in watching two daring youths who waded through
the strong current, up to their chins, until they found the broken end of the rope. Hav-
ing finally reached the other bank, it was night, and there being no time nor room to
pitch tents, we had our beds in the open air and slept very comfortably.

We arrived at Poo on the 2nd of July, after a tiring march over a horrible road of very
rugged and unstable foundation mostly along the face of the precipice. There were hardly
any more Pencil cedar trees (Juniperus excelsa) on the road. The scenery was now quite
Tibetan in character. Bad as the road was, the Missionary at Poo told me that it was
excellent compared to what it had been only five years ago. Honour to the brave Mission
ladies who have travelled on it in its old state! The rocks are dangerous, even to the natives.

About an hour before reaching Poo, the valley widens a little, and it is a relief to
be able to walk here without continually looking out for a safe foothold. Poo is situated
on a plain on the right bank of the Satluj and looks very pretty with its green fields,
apricot and apple tree gardens. Its elevation is about 9,500 feet, and it is the first vil-
lage on our road, the language of which is entirely Tibetan. It looks as if it was entirely
closed in by steep bare mountains.

When approaching the village, we passed by a great number of mani walls, and as I
noticed votive tablets on several of them, I began to study them. None of them seemed
to be very ancient. The inscriptions consisted generally of four parts. The first part
may be called devotional, the second part consisted of a eulogy of the country of which
the village of Poo (spelled sPu in the inscriptions) was the centre, the third part praised
the Rājā of Bashahr who was reigning at the time, and the fourth part contained the
account of the building of the wall, and stated for whose religious benefit it was meant.
As regards the names of Bashahr Rājās on the tablets, only the following four have
been traced through Mr. Schnabel's and our own combined efforts : Rudar (in Tibetan
Lurdur) Singh ; Ugar (in Tibetan Urku) Singh ; Mahindar (in Tibetan Metar) Singh ;
Shamsher (in Tibetan bSam-gser 'golden thought') Singh. These names cover about
the last century. But there are some more mani walls with votive tablets which, instead
of giving the proper name of a chief simply speak of 'the great king' at Sarāhan (So-ra-
rang in Tibetan). This shows that the personal names of the rulers of Bashahr previous
to Rudar Singh, were not known to the Tibetans. As regards the geographical part (the
eulogy of the country) of these inscriptions, it contained many references to places be-
yond the border, thus showing that in the minds of the people, Guge and Poo were not
yet separated. Of particular interest are the clan names occurring in these inscriptions.
One of them is Thogar. It is found in two inscriptions and points to the Tokhar origin
of part of the Poo population.

During our stay at Poo, we enjoyed the hospitality of the Rev. R. and Mrs. Schnabel
of the Moravian Mission, who took great pains to make me comfortable and to show me
the sights of the place. Their intimate knowledge of the customs and traditions of the
people were of the greatest value in the pursuit of our researches.