splintered blocks for nearly every one of the bigger
houses of the town ; but if the original description of the
place by Father Andrada had any real foundation, the
capital of Tibet has changed sadly for the worse, for not
even the kindliest advocate could find in the slosh and
filth of every street, or in the ramshackle structures
which cumber every available inch of ground beside the
heavier houses, the well-paved thoroughfares and dignified
architecture which he describes.
About three hundred yards north of the Jo-kang,
before reaching the Yabshi turning where the chorten
stands, the street edges along a wide open space, chiefly
swamp and ruin, across which the Meru gompa can easily
be seen. The only interest attaching to this gompa is
that, so far as can be ascertained, it has been built over
the site of the old Christian chapel. If the actual site of
the chapel is not covered by the monastery buildings, it
can safely be asserted that the chapel and the surrounding
buildings of the mission have been totally destroyed, for
a space, clear of all but a few trees, exists on every side
of the present Lamasery. The bell of the Mission is
still in existence in Lhasa.
The story of this mission has been well told in a
recent volume by the Rev. Graham Sandberg. Briefly
stated, its somewhat inglorious history is this. In
1708 the Propaganda sent four Capuchin friars from India
through Katmandu and Gyantse to Lhasa to found a
mission. Three years later the adult conversions claimed
by the whole chain of outposts of the “ Tibetan mission ”
were two in number, and as the report from which this is
taken included the results of proselytization in Bengal
and in Nepal as well as Tibet, it is perhaps possible that
no Tibetan had seen reason to change his faith. In
THE ROAD IS FLOODED— AS IT GENERALLY I&. BEHIND
IS THE CONICAL PEAK OF CHAGPO-RI, AND IN THE FOREGROUND'.
ARE SOME OF THE GROUTING PIGS THE
SCAVENGERS AND, CORPSE-EATERS OF LHASA. SHING
DONKAR RIDGE in d i s t a n c e . Amber, ochre and Vandyke
brown ; distant hills pearl-grey.