26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANATOMICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL 



the cold was intense at night. Crossing the Karo Pass, one de- 

 scends to Nangartse, another Jong on the Yamduk Tso or Turquoise 

 lake, which is two to three miles wide and thirty-five miles in cir- 

 cumference. The valley here is smiling and fertile, and passing many 

 flourishing villages along the lake, one comes to the Pete Jong, fifteen 

 miles from Nangartse. We soon leave the lake and cross the Kamba 

 La (15,000 feet), a very stiff climb and very difficult descent to the 

 Yara Tsangpo or Brahmaputra valley. On reaching the river at Chak- 

 sam Ferry, one again is in the midst of a very fertile and flourishing 

 countiy, and we are now 105 miles from Gyantse. The river Tsangpo 

 is difficult and dangerous to cross owing to many whirlpools. We 

 crossed it by two Tibetan junks and Tibetan skin-boats made out of 

 yak skins, and four Berthon boats which we brought with us. It 

 took us six days to cross it : the breadth of the river at the crossing 

 being about 400 yards. On crossing this river, we are within forty 

 miles of Lhassa by a road which runs along the right bank of the Ki 

 Chu, on which Lhassa stands, passing through big villages and many 

 woods and good cultivated land. If the river is high after the rain 

 the most of the road is under water, and in some places is over very 

 bad ground, along the edge of rocks leading to Toolung on the Toolung 

 Chu river which joins the stream of the Ki Chu here. There are very 

 fine houses here, surrounded by gardens and groves of trees, belonging 

 to civil officials of Lhassa, which is six miles farther on. Crossing the 

 Toolung Chu by a fine strong bridge, and then through a fine flourishing 

 wooded countiy past the old fort of Lhassa, we come a little farther 

 on to Daipung Monastery, the largest monastery in the world, contain- 

 ing 7,000 monks and situated on the face of a mountain. It is a very 

 fine building, and has beside it the temple of Nachung Choskyung, 

 where the astrologer, who discovers each Dalai Lama, lives. It is a 

 fine golden-roofed building in a grove of trees, with a large marble 

 court-yard surrounded by fine roses and flowers. Passing on one 

 crosses the " Meadow of Wild Asses," a very marshy plain, along the 

 bank of the Ki Chu up to the circular road surrounding Lhassa 

 city, and through the gateway under the shadow of the Potala 



