Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/104

 brought us to Shar-chyog Aniung, also called Isa. The poplar and willow groves around it give it a most prosperous appearance. Here we overtook a monk of the Dongtse monastery, sent by the minister to fetch him some books from the Kahdong gomba, near Panam djong. His tall, lithe frame, but poorly covered with torn raiment, his curious boots and headdress, and the bundle of incense-sticks slung like a quiver across his back, evoked smiles from our party as he walked swiftly along, keeping pace with our ponies. Across numerous frozen irrigation ditches, and through various little hamlets of three and four houses, the road led us by Taling, Dao-targe, and Pangri, to the village of Nesar, where live some twenty families. Just before reaching this place a mad dog ran by, and though it bit an old man and several donkeys, the Tung-chen would not let me shoot it. Nesar has, on the hillside above it, a neatly built temple and a number of small towers, the latter sacred to the sylvan goddesses or Mamos. The images of Shenrezig and Padma Sambhava are painted on the walls of its mani lhakhang and on the towers on the hill. A little beyond this village we fell in with four Khambas, each armed with a long, straight sword, who were unquestionably highwaymen. Their dress and features showed them to be natives of Gyarong, in Markham, in the eastern part of Tibet.

At 5 o'clock we arrived at Dongtse. The monastery where the minister was residing was on a rocky eminence some 300 feet above the village. After walking up several flights of stone steps, we reached the gateway in the now partly ruined wall of the monastery. Near this I was welcomed by the minister's page, and led to the eastern room of his master's apartments, which had been set apart for my use. Before we had finished drinking tea a message came calling me to the minister's presence. With two scarves and a couple of rupees in our hands, we proceeded to the drawing-room, and approached his holiness with profound salutations. He touched