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at the conclusion of which he presented to his Holiness
a number of valuable things ■ then he made three
prostrations and withdrew, followed by all of us
I “ As I was leaving, one of the Donyer chenpo’s
(or chamberlain) assistants gave me two packets of
blessed pills, and another tied a scrap of red silk round
my neck— these are the usual return presents the Grand
.Lama makes to pilgrims/ 1
This is probably the best extant description of a
reception at the Potala, and for that reason I have
inserted it It will probably be many years before a
i e man has the chance of verifying even an incident
described in it. Hue, the last European before ourselves
o see it, gives an inadequate description of the
palace It is also so much beside the truth that one is
obliged to wonder what pains he took to verify other
statements he made m his book of travels. Here it is • —
Le palais du Talé Lama mérite à tous égards la célébrité
M i Üle et ■ au Plus a un quart d ’heure de distance il
ex ste une montagne rocheuse, peu élevée, et de forme connue
8— ( H d e . c e t t e larSe vallée, comme un ilot isolé
uessus a un immense lac.
Cette montagne porte le nom de Bouddha-La, c ’est-à-dire
£nH Bouddha, montagne divine ■ c ’est s u r r* « 1 H l H H H ■ B
os S r X i S é Lev ™ j t S magnmqUe ° Ù r&ide 6n Chair et »
de £ B B ™ e réUni°n de Plusieurs Amples, de grandeur et
de beaute différentes; celui qui occupe le centre est —
quatre étages, et domine tous les autres.; il est terminé par un
dome entièrement recouvert de lames d ’or, et entouré d ’un vrand
peristyle dont les colonnes sont également dorées.
The last paragraph is puzzling indeed. Nothing is
more characteristic and striking at the Potala than the
VOL. II.