CHAPTER XVI 



TACHIENLU, THE GATE OF THIBET 



The Kingdom of Chiala, its People, their Manners and 



Customs 



THE town of Tachienlu is situated in long. 102° 13' E., 

 lat. 30° 3' N. circa, at an altitude of about 8400 feet. 

 By the most direct route it is twelve days' journey from 

 Chengtu Fu, the provincial capital, on the great highway which 

 extends westwards to Lhassa. It is the Ultima Thule of China 

 and Thibet, where a large and thriving trade is done in the wares 

 of both countries. It is also the residence of the King of Chiala, 

 who governs a very considerable tract of country and exercises 

 a strong influence over conterminous states peopled with 

 Thibetans. The first Occidental other than Roman Catholic 

 priests to visit Tachienlu was the late Mr. T. T. Cooper in 1868. 

 Since that date it has been visited by many scores of travellers, 

 and has become fairly well known to the outside world. It is a 

 more than ordinarily interesting place, and though muchhasbeen 

 written concerning it the subject is far from being exhausted. 



The present town is built in the narrowest of valleys at the 

 head of a gorge, down which the river Lu cascades, falling some 

 4000 feet before it joins the river Tung, 18 miles distant. A 

 branch of the Lu River bisects the town, being crossed by means 

 of three wooden bridges, and is joined immediately below the 

 north gate by another stream, which flows from the Ta-p'ao 

 shan snows. The town is hemmed in on all sides by steep, 

 treeless mountains whose grassy slopes and bare cliffs lead up 

 to peaks culminating in eternal snow. On the whole, the 

 situation is about the last in the world in which one would 

 expect to find a thriving trade entrepot. Formerly, Tachienlu 

 occupied a site about half a mile above the present town, but 



