Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/189

 view from which always charmed me, especially when the rays of the setting sun shone brightly on the gilded domes of the temples and palaces.

I was much troubled in my mind by hearing from Tsing-ta that small-pox was raging in town, even the keeper of our house, his wife and children, were down with the disease, and in every dwelling in the neighbourhood some one was ill with it.

On the following morning (June 2), after an early breakfast, I went to visit the famous shrine of Ramoche, carrying, as on the previous day, a bundle of incense-sticks, some butter and khatags. We took a horribly muddy lane, where heaps of filth emitted a most offensive odour; then, turning northward, we crossed the Potala road at the north-west corner of the Tomse-gang, as the Kyil-khording square is commonly called, and passed by the lofty Wangdu chorten, which was built to bring under the power (wang, "power;" du, "to subjugate") of Tibet all the neighbouring nations. This spot is also called Gya-bum gang, for it is said that once during the Ming dynasty of China 100,000 (gya-bum) Chinese troops camped (gang) on the plain to the north of this chorten. Other accounts explain this name by saying that in the war with China, after the death of King Srong-btsan gambo, 100,000 Chinamen were killed in a battle near this spot.

A few hundred paces beyond this place we reached the gate of Ramoche, the famous temple erected by the illustrious Konjo, daughter of the Emperor Tai-tsung, and wife of King Srong-btsan gambo. It is a flat-roofed edifice three stories high, and has a wide portico. At the front of the building there is to be seen a very ancient inscription in Chinese, giving probably the history of the building of the temple. The image of Mikyod dorje (Vajra Akshobhya), brought here by King Srong-btsan’s second wife, a Nepalese princess, is of undoubted antiquity, even though the face of the statue is covered with gilding.

In the northern lobby are heaps of relics—shields, spears, drums, arrows, swords, and trumpets, and in a room to the left of the entrance,