Garphans: the only authority which he acknowledges
is the supreme power at Lhasa. Toling was the capital
of the ancient kings of Western Tibet and formerly
a place of great political importance, while close to
this spot is an iron chain suspension bridge, of cantilever
design, said by some to have been built by Alexander
the Great, and by others ascribed to the last
king of Western Tibet. But its temporal glory has
departed, and the ruins that are visible on all sides
speak of a splendour that is no more. The city must
have been abandoned four hundred years ago, and only
a hamlet remains to mark what has been in the past.
However, the monastery is one of the largest in this part
of Tibet, having a population of three hundred Lamas;
and, further, the estimation in which it is held has
until recent years exceeded that which is shown for
the monastery at Taklakot, although this latter place
has lately become so rich from endowments of property,
while the number of its monks has increased so greatly
(they number 350), that it rivals the former now in
importance, and desires to consider itself the Head of
the Church in Western Tibet. The political advantage,
therefore, which has been gained by throwing
Gartok open is very considerably enhanced by the
fact that adjacent to this centre of the civil authority
are the headquarters of the supreme spiritual authority,
and when the one place feels the effects of the outside
influences which must shortly be brought to
bear upon it the other place cannot fail to be similarly
affected.
The province of Nari, or Western Tibet, is subdivided
into districts, which are governed by officials
who bear the title of Jongpen. Of these there are
four, and a fifth who, although he does not bear the
designation, still exercises the authority and enjoys
the respect connected with that title. They are the
Nampa
A BEAUTIFUL VIEW : NAMPA (23,350 FT.) IN NEPAL :
MORAINE-COVERED GLACIERS
Jongpens of Rudok, Chaprang, Daba, Taklakot, and
the Tarjum of Barkha. Rudok lying as it does at the
western extremity of Nari is brought into contact, with
some of the wildest and most dreary landscape in the
world, and with geological phenomena of a weirdly