The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-10-29

is perhaps only conventional express
sion, for Lhasa has no city walls. They
We're pulled down in 1721 by a Deepen
named Karpi. and the sand emlbank-
ment which was built at the samst time
by him to protect the western gate
from inundation is one Of the first
things that attract the eye as one rides
in toward Potala. The road runs
straight in from the west. 1t ipasses
the high white and red wall whheh in
closes Norbuling, the summer paLace of
the Grand Lama, about six hu ndred
yards on the right A little further
on it runs beneath the tangled and
overgrown plantations attached to
Kundeding monastery, which ST reich
out green. and cool beside the gusty
Ling-lor. the little worn lane which
has become famous throughout the
Buddhist world Even as one APP
preached it two trabas, one of the m of
extreme age, come along twirling their
prayer wheels and muttering lnces-
sanity the one phrase Of Lamaisln as
they go. From the heights of the neck
above, which almost joins Potala and
Chagpori, there is to be seen at last
the great view Of Lhasa, to the travel
er the most fascinating and. perhaps,
also the most beautiful, city panor anna
in the world.
There is nothing missing from this
splendid spectacle. Architecture, for
est trees, wide spaces, rivers and
streams, mountains, everything lie, out
before one looking down from the
height upon Lhasa Immediately at
ones feet. Nor is this quite all the
charm. There has been nowhere along
the journey a hint of what the end was
to be. The dark forbidding spurs and
,ravines of the valley interlocking one
behind another promised nothing Of
this, and the delight of Lhasa's be auty
is doubled by its utter Unexpected ess.
1t is true that we had passed through
green fields and marshes cloaked sIloul-
der high with rushes; it is true that
here and there a densely matted plan
tation had moved out to view from be-
hind projecting spur or, seen afar,
had slowly grown in size beside, the
road as we came along. But there was
nothing LESS, perhaps, in the MAPS of
Lhasa than anything to promise lis in
the heart of a city these wild stret .ches
| of dtnse wood this close-crc .pped
grazing land and this marshy grass,
ringed and delimited by high trees, or
the lazy streamlets of brown, tra.nspa-
Trent water over which the branches all
most meet.
In Lhasa there is in this belt Of
woodland interposing mile. wide
green belt between the palace AMI the
! town. Round the fringes Of the town
| itself and creeping up between the
houses of the village at the foot of the
PotaIa there are more trees-treesj nu-
merous enough to give it a reput alton
as. a garden city. But in this stretch of
green, unspoiled by house or temple
and almost roadless, Lhasa has a fea-
ture which no other city on earth can
rival. It is all a part of that splendid
religious pride which has been the
making and may yet prove the undo
| ing of Tibet. 1t was right that There
\ should be a belt Of nature around the
palace of their incarnate king-ileity,
and there the belt is, wrapping thi ; Po-
tala inside the city with something of
the isolation which guards from the
outer world the whole of this strange
and beautiful town. That one-thhed Of
/ the whole available space within the
4 Ling-kor was thus lost n1attered 10th
/ ing; it may even have been an addi-
| tional reason for the ordinance.
Between and over the glades and
woodland the city of Lhasa itself
Ipeeps, an adobe stretch Of marrow
streets, and flat-topped houses en-
signed here and there with blaze Of
golden roofs or gilded gyan-tsen. But
there is an actual difficulty in looking
at 1T. Beside one, the Potala dragss the
eye of the mind like a lodestone, For
Indeed, sheer bulk and magnificent au-
\ dacity with which simplicity has
4 wrought a marvel in stone could do nc
more than they have done in this huge
palace temple Of the Grand Lama Il
would dominate London; Lhasa it sim
4 ply eclipses. BY European stand ards
lit is impossible to judge it. There is
little to which comparison can be made
\ Perhaps in the austerity Of its huge
stretches OF blank, unveiled, uno rna-
mented wall, and in the fiat, unaba shed
lslants of its tremendous southeat iterr
face, there is a suggestion Of the mas.
sive grandeur Of Egyptian work: but
one only thinks Of the likeness to dis.
miss it again. This is not only a. pro.
Jduct Of Larnaisn, but of Lamaisrn az
lit could only be exhibited in the ca. pita
aIof the faith. The contrast of cole,r il
no part Of the spectacle, and it ais o IL
as unlike Tibet and the gaudy pre- fer.
ences Of its Inhabitants. as could be i'm.
4 agined The vivid white of the but.
tressing curtainseac a wilderness 0.
4 windows and the home of hundreds o1
crimson clad dwarfs, who stand in the
i sun at the stair heads, or, pygmk slike
Imam the roof tops-strikes clear and
harmonious note with the sea Of 81 teer
4 which washes up to their bases. But
one is hardly ready for the per fec
taste which not only decided for tn,
rich maroon color of the central bElild
ling resting-three times as large az
lStafford House--upon and between, its
white supporting bulk of masonry, but
ladded with the sparing hand Of the ole
illumination, the golden finals which