Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/273

 The next day we visited the temple, which is very beautiful, though the lamasery itself has never recovered from the pillage l)y the Jungars in the seventeenth century; and the Nyingma Church being at present, moreover, persecuted by the dominant Gelugpa, no longer enjoys its former wealth. The neatness of the stonework and the finish of all the masonry about the temple were very remarkable, and the courtyard was regularly paved with stone slabs.

To the south of the monastery is the residence of the abbot, wlio is always selected from the Tertalingpa family, in which this office is hereditary.

I left Mindol-ling on November 12, returned to the Tsang-po, and reached the village of Cho by dusk. Quite early the next morning we entered Khede-sho, where our route joined that we had taken when going to Samye.

We left Khede-sho by daylight the next morning, and continuing along the bank of the Tsang-po, crossed the long meadow of Ding-naga, which is covered with a fine, short, moss-like sod. Then passing through the villages of Kyishong, Panza, and Gyatu-ling, we came to where the Gonkhar mountains abut on the river. On their farther side is the town of Gongkhar, still surrounded by imposing, though ruined walls. Here, after much difficulty, we managed to obtain shelter in the house of a fisherman, who gave us leave to pass the night in a hovel half filled with yak hides. He and his wife were very kind to us, and looked, to the best of their ability, after our wants and those of our ponies.

We resumed our journey at 4 in the morning, and pushed on slowly and with considerable difficulty, for the path was over rocks, in places overhanging the roaring river. At daybreak we passed by the village of Shyati-ling, and shortly after the sun pierced the fog which had enveloped us. A low col, called Yab la, was next passed, and we joined the high-road between Lhasa and Shigatse, which I