THE TEMPLE OF KUM-BUM ii 8 i 
distance the road was simply a deep trench cut through 
the loess hills, until we came to a side-valley, whence 
issued a tributary of the main stream that brought down 
210 cubic feet of water in the second. We passed several 
villages with cultivated fields, the principal being Yuan- 
san and Ban-sa. 
The fall of the stream rendered it well suited for 
milling. A canal was led off from the river to the edge 
of a ravine or hollow in the ground. Thence the water 
was conducted in a wooden conduit to a position from 
which it could fall six or seven feet directly upon the 
float-board of a horizontal wheel, the axle of which 
projected vertically upwards and supported the millstones. 
There were several mills of this description along the 
banks. We could hear the noise of the falling water and 
the groaning of the mills long before we reached them. 
The valley curved round to the north-east. Hence, 
leaving the stream on our right, we ascended a road 
carved out of the softly contoured mountain-side, often 
at a great height above the valley. The town of Lusar 
clustered on the side of a hill, the buildings rising tier 
above tier like the rows of benches in an amphitheatre. 
At first we had the houses on our left hand only ; but 
further on they became visible on our right, or rather 
their roofs did, for they were several feet below the level 
of the road. At length we reached a triangular market- 
place, on one side of which was the rest-house or inn. 
There I established myself in a small hut on the roof, 
to which my baggage was hoisted up by means of ropes. 
Underneath our feet lay the lanes and courtyards of the 
town, and on the hills to the south-east gleamed the white 
walls of the renowned temple complex of Kum-bum, or 
the temple of the Ten Thousand Images, so called from 
the number of idols it contains. 
November 20th. In the morning I and Loppsen paid 
a visit to the temples. We went on foot ; to have ridden 
along the sacred pathways would have been to expose 
ourselves to insult or even to stoning. The brook of 
Lusar flowed towards the east-north-east, that of Kum- 
