184 



CHAPTEE X 



TA-TSIEN-LU 



Meet Mr. Rockhill — His joiirney — Missionaries give great assistance — 

 Christian collectors — Hard life and devotion of the missionaries — 

 Description of the inn — Prayer papers — Caravans — -Caravan drivers 

 — Their dress — The landlady's wealth — Value of gold — Citj' of Ta- 

 tsien-lu — Its inhabitants — Their dress and arms — Lamas — Funeral 

 rites of a lama — Brick tea — ^Loads carried by coolies — Trade — Dis- 

 tance travelled by caravans — Currency — Sealing-wax — Women's feast 

 — Sanscrit inscriptions — Despatch carriers between Pekin and Lhassa 

 —Departure of Mr. Eockhill — Misfortunes of his men — Tibetan dogs 

 — Expedition to Chet-tu — Poor loAgings^CrossojiHlon Tihetanum 

 seen — Parnassiiis Imperator — Expedition to the north — Shooting 

 Crosso2>tilon — Preparations for departure. 



On my arrival at the inn I found Mr. Eockhill, an 

 American, who had been previously attached to their 

 legation at Pekin, and who had travelled from that 

 place through the practically unknown region on the 

 boundary between China and Tibet, I had been told by 

 Monseigneur Biet that he was there, and was agreeably 

 SLiriDrised that I should have an English-speaking fellow 

 traveller living in the same house with me for at least 

 some days. 



I do not know how to sufficiently thank Bishop 

 Biet and the Fathers Soulie, Mossot and Dejean for all 

 their kindness and attention to me during my stay. 



