of the jewelled butterflies wheeling over the dirt of the
Riang road.
On the left is a row of willows hedging about a water
meadow, across which are two of the “ lings,” or gardens,
which surround Lhasa* Soon after this the wide black
pools which mark the clearing in front of the Amban’s
house appear to the right, but the Ling-kor runs on below
the willow-trees on the left, to the green plantations
which have now taken the place of the houses ; for now
Lhasa proper has been left behind and we are moving
along the southern side of the woodland waste between
it and the Potala palace. The town has given place to
the woodland, and the woodland will soon give place to
the rock. Seven hundred yards on through this green
avenue with a stream beside us moistening the roots of
the willows brings the pilgrim to a sharp upstanding
spur of stone.
It is not one of the least extraordinary things connected
with Lhasa that no visitor, traveller, or spy
seems to have made the complete circuit of the Ling-
kor. Not only are the maps we possess consistently
wrong in a matter about which no mistake can possibly
be made by anyone who has seen the place, but no
account or description has hitherto been given of one of
the most remarkable features of Lhasa. The steep
limestone cliffs fall sharply down beside the running
stream which here is merged into the wide flood of the
K y i chu. One of the channels of this river actually
washes the base of this limestone outcrop, and the
path has been cut out of the rock three feet wide in
* I t was in one of these that the Commissioner was invited to take up his
residence on his arrival in the city, hut the place was inconvenient for many
reasons and the Lha-lu house was chosen instead.
On the Ling-kor.
t h e o l d m o n k , s t i l l w h i r l i n g h i s p r a y e r - w h e e l ,
t u r n e d t o w a t c h m e , a s h e w a s m a k in g h i s p e r a
m b u l a t i o n . . Grey, ochre, strong greens, amber, lavender,
, blue and, white, monk's robe crimsom