CH AK -SAM GOMPA AN D CHAINS 119
to deserve a moment’s notice. Prince Tang-tong *
put up this bridge in the fifteenth century. It consists
of four heavy chains of links, which at a guess, I
should say, were each eight inches in length ; the span
of the bridge is, approximately, 200 feet, and in midstream
it descends upon an island rock, covered with
Despatching a loaded ferry-boat.
thick willows, which in the dry season stands on the
edge of the permanent river-bed ; from this rock to
the northern shore a stone causeway runs slant-wise,
which for more than half the year is free of water, but
* This learned pillar of the Church was long averse to encountering the pitfalls and
delusions of the flesh. He therefore remained for sixty years in gremio matris cogitating
upon the vanity of worldly things.. Eventually it occurred to him that his inaction
was causing serious inconvenience to another, and he consented to be born. The whole
story is a bitter but unconscious satire upon the selfishness of Lamaism. ,