TO TAZEDO, ON THE CHINESE FRONTIER. 531 



is a vast and splendid city, enclosed with a wall of stone. The Ruler of 

 Lahassa abides in the middle of the city, and four persons next in rank to 

 him, at the four corners of the city. These five persons, with two others, 

 whose ordinary function is the distribution of justice, form a council of 

 state. Small offences are punished by fixing the offender in a sort of stocks 

 by the neck, in the midst of the city — where he remains for four or five 

 days, and is then flogged and dismissed. Murderers are punished with 

 decapitation, after a trial before the two persons above alluded to, and who 

 are called Tdzeen. Political offences, and grave matters affecting the State, 

 are reported to the Emperor of China. There are five gates to the City 

 of Lahassa, called the Nepali, and Sehmgi, and Laddkhi, and Di-jivani, 

 and Chinese gates — all of which are cautiously guarded — especially 

 that leading to China — to get through which costs the traveller a whole 

 day of solicitation, and sundry rupees in presents. The cold of winter 

 at Lahassa is intense, so much so that spittle will freeze almost before 

 it reaches the ground. In summer, the heat is very temperate. The 

 winds are always boisterous. The chief inhabitants of Lahassa are 

 JBhotias ; next in number to them are Chinese; next Newars, and least of 

 all, Cashmiris. The Newars, who, like the Cashmiris, reside at Lahassa, 

 for the sake of commerce, have about five hundred houses or shops, and 

 the Cashmiris, perhaps, three hundred houses. Lahassa itself stands on 

 a plain— but around it, on all sides, are mountains. 



37th Stage, of ten cos, to Tejing. A cos beyond Lahassa is a river called 

 Shanga, which is about one hundred paces wide, which is passed by leathern 

 and wooden boats: the former for men, the latter for beasts. Two cos beyond 

 the river you come to the village of Chyi, of about fifty houses. Travellers 

 halt here awhile to refresh themselves. Thence to Tejing, the remaining five 

 cos are through a fine fertile plain, sprinkled with cultivation and population. 



38th Stage, of eight cos, to Mat-hun-ga. Four cos from Tejing, you 

 come to the village of Ldmu-chu-ki/d, full of Lamas, who abstain from 



