A CUP-MARK INSCRIPTION IN THE CHUMBI VALLEY. 



275 



obliteration was that the form of the rock, on which the inscription occurs, resembles 

 a closed-up doorway into a cave, and is consequently believed to be the entrance to a 

 "treasury" of the local gods, situated within the mountain. As such, it is an object of 

 veneration to passers-by, who " knocked on the door " by rubbing the holes with stones. 

 The building of the causeway at this place, which was done by an officer deputed 

 from Lhasa, was, I was informed, much resented at the time by the people of the valley, 

 because it closed up this so-called " door," and a small hole was left in the causeway 

 to mark the place where the door was. 



Both these inscriptions are on rocks at points where there is only just room for the path, 

 between the river and the cliffs, and, therefore, must have been conspicuous to every 

 passer-by. The latter one is also at a point where the track was apparently brought 

 to an abrupt ending by the large projecting rock which could not be got round and 

 could only be climbed over, and its object was, therefore, perhaps to inform subsequent 

 immigrants that there was a way beyond and they should climb over the rock and go on. 



I looked carefully throughout the Chumbi Valley for other cup-mark inscriptions, 

 but did not find any. I also looked carefully for them on the rocks of the Do-le 

 Marpo, and Tre-mo La passes between Bhutan and the valleys leading down to the 

 Phari plain, but was unable to find any there either. 



As I have already mentioned, Mr. Rivett Carnac supposes that the dark and light 

 circles which are shown in the Chinese " Book of Changes," the distinction being 

 one which it would be impossible to make in an inscription on rock, represent cups of a 

 larger and smaller size. Cups of two different sizes occur on the present inscrip- 



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tions, the cups numbered i to 15 on the accompanying figure being larger both in 

 diameter and depth than the others, and also of a uniform size with one another. The 

 theory that cup marks are an archaic form of ideographic writing, depends on the fact that 

 they appear to be arranged in certain groups which, it is presumed, are intended to convey 



