356 SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS OF KASHMIR ciiai-. xx 



and there were some fifty or so of these prayer-wheels 

 around the courtyard, and many of them much larger 

 than those I have described. It will be readily seen, 

 therefore, that if merit result from repeating the great 

 sentence or a prayer a number of times, and if revolving 

 it in a barrel is equivalent to repeating it, an enormous 

 amount of merit could be accumulated in a very short 

 time by a monk who chose to walk round that court- 

 yard, touching each prayer-wheel with his finger as he 

 passed. 



Below the main monastery is a small Gompa with a 

 tiny shrine, decorated, as the majority of these Ladak 

 shrines are, with flowers made, some of butter and some 

 of tinsel. As usual, lights were burning on a small ledge, 

 being cotton wicks immersed in ghi contained in small 

 vessels shaped like goblets. Around the Gompa were 

 poles ornamented with horns and yaks' tails, connected by 

 cords on which hung the usual rags covered with prayers. 

 There were several chortens^ and manis^ close by. 



About I P.M. I left, the laden ponies having gone 

 on directly after breakfast. This time we kept to the 

 left bank of the river, as we did not want to follow it to 

 its mouth at Nowi, but to leave it some distance before 

 reaching the Indus and make for Nimu. About 4 p.m. 

 I met a coolie carrying the post which my wife had sent 

 on from Tankse, and about half an hour before dusk we 



^ Small pagoda-like structures containing sacred images made of the ashes of 

 Lamas mixed with clay. 



2 Walls, about 5 feet high and 6 to 10 feet thick, covered with loose flat stones, 

 on which the mystic sentence or a prayer has been inscribed. Going round a mani 

 once places to the credit of the traveller all the prayers upon it ; hence a mani is 

 always left on the right in passing. 



