198 Notes on Moorcrofts Travels in Ladakh, QNo. 147. 



mountains, which is still considered as under the care of, and as the 

 place, of the lah or deota, or god. 



Temples, Sj-c — There are many kinds of buildings and temples pe- 

 culiar to the Lamas, the most common are tumuli, called mane, con- 

 sisting of a dyke of loose stones, and upon their tops, are numerous 

 pieces of slate covered with sentences in the Oochen or sacred charac- 

 ter. Oom mane, fyc. is the most frequent inscription. There is 

 often a pole or two in the middle, and sometimes a flag attached to it. 



Chosten or Chokten, is found in the vicinity of every Lama habita- 

 tion, and on the surrounding heights. It is an enclosure formed of 

 three walls and a roof; inside are one or more buildings of clay, shaped 

 like urns or pyramids of different colours : yellow, light blue and 

 white. 



Douktens, are pyramids in steps, with a kind of urn above larger 

 than the chostens ; rarely inclosed, never covered. 



Labrang, is applied to two kinds of buildings, one is a square pile of 

 stones six or eight feet high, and one and a half or two feet in diame- 

 ter. They are erected in fche fields to propitiate the deities for an 

 abundant harvest. The other sort is a place of worship of various 

 sizes. 



Lagang, is a square flat-roofed house, containing a temple of Mahadeo 

 according to the Kunawarees, but it is called Mahamoonee by the 

 Tartars. 



Lapcha — On the tops of many of the houses, are square piles of 

 stones adorned with juniper branches, and on the road sides, are heaps 

 of stones with poles, rags, or flags inscribed with mystic words. 



Darchut. — At the corners of almost all the Tartar houses, is a pole 

 to which a flag painted with Oom Mane pad mee oom is attached, 

 with a tuft of black yak's hair above. 



Cylinders, called mane, are common j they are nothing more than 

 hollow wooden barrels, inside of which are sacred sentences painted 

 on paper or cloth ; they are always turned from the north towards the 

 east. There is a smaller sort with a projecting piece of wood below, 

 these are carried about by the wandering Tartars called kawpa. — 

 Gerard, p. 123-127- 



I do not know what has determined the form of the monuments 

 called mani, and I have but little to add to Captain Gerard's descrip- 



