The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1905-01-22

{ Lhassa there is nothing else. In a
way it recalls the domination of the
Shwe Dagon over Rangoon, though n
every aspect of construction, orna-
mentation and surroundings it would
| be hard to imagine two buildings more
entirely distinct and different in every
detail than the two greatest erections
of modern Buddhism.
The utter dispropOrtion between the
palace and the town remains a won
der, but a wonder devoid of trace of
ostentation. The pretty town which
peeps about between the trees a mile
away only emphasizes the tremendous
gulf that in Tibet yawns between the
people and their priests. The fearful
sanctity which hedges the person of
their mysterious ruler receives in
Lhassa an optical illustration that
must impress the dullest pilgrim. The
policy of isolation has in Lhassa re-
ceived a justification startling in its
suficiency, and the devecots of the
Potala are perhaps more f1attered by
their inability thus to impress the
white foreigners than by anything
else.
Quoise-roofed bridge, from which both
an ancient family and it take their
name, is clearly seen 200 yards from
little squat opening in the WALL
which is the gate into the inner town
Beyond that again it is lost in the
crowded alleys. One can distinguish
by its isolation the famous willow
opposite the Jo-kang, which grows
from hair of the Buddha, but all
else is speculation. Ones eyes turn
back again from the undistinguished
herd Of adobe structures to the Po-
tala. There is nothing else to see
when one has once looked upon it, a
new glory to be forever added to the
great architecture of the world.
The View Within the City.
! Describing Col. Younghusband's ell
trance into the city and his reception
/ by the Amban, the Chinese Resident,
the correspondent says:
we went in by the Fargo Kaling,
or Western Gate, between the two
guardian hills of Uhassa. 1t is a
square opening underneath a gilden
choren, with a protective railing of
timber along both sides of the pass
age and blue deity in his most terri
BILE aspect painted on the left-hand
wall. Once inside oae has an instant
! view of the whole length of the Potala
slanting away scientifically on our left.
We went on past the squalid suburb
crouching beneath the mighty walls
of the Potala, and found the mono
18th pillar put up in 1923 by the EN-
peror Kang Hsi to celebrate the paci-
fication Of Tibet. 1t is curious that
upon ii the Tashi-Lhunno Lama's
name precedes that of the Dalai
Lama
Leaving the Potala behind the road
now lay across and through the
marshes and fields of the great CEN
trail park and at last brought us to
the Youtok Sampa, or Turquoise
bridge. This is regarded by the
Chinese as one of the Five Beauties
Of Lhassa, but there is not much to
justify such praise, though the roof
itself is picturesque enough with its
weaJher+beaten, overlapping titles.
They are, perhaps, more beautiful in
their present state, in which the I'M
DERIVING red fights with the worn
glare, than when they were new. Al
/ most Immediately afterward the road.
leaving the swamps and watergrass
sargassO, which necessitate the Yotok
Sampa, runs beneath the plain, unor-
nomented and undefended doorway
l do not think there is even a door
which admits one to the town of
Lhassa itself. The first view-and
perhaps one may as well saw at once
the last also, is anything but impress
slV.e Great pools of black-scummed
| water food the wide. uneven space
into WHICH we emerged, and even the
| Chinese quarter to the right of us
| was dirtier than Chinese sections gen
orally are. The main drain of the
town runs fetidly between black mud
banks, and in open square before the
Chinese Amban's residence herds OF
pigs grouted in rubbish heaps. which
were more than usually repulsive IN
composition.
Disposition of the Dead.
To the left the houses of a few
| Ragyabas. or professional scavengers,
were betrayed by the famous horn
walls which no visitor to Lhassa has
failed to notice. Perhaps the sight
Of these walls reminded one of that
! other duty Of the Ragyaba~the cut
ting up and distribution to animals
of the cOTpses of the dead. The GEM
etery is only a few steps away, and
the reputed food of Lhassa pigs be-
came in a flash a disgustingly proba-
BILE reflection.
| Across the square, splashing
| through the waterpools, We cavalcad-
4 ed, and, after the explosion of bombs
of honor and the performance by hid
den musicians of the only tune known
in the East, Col Younghusband and
the mission staff made their way
through courtyard after courtyard,
past the inevitable gigantic lions"
on either side of the great entrance.
The durbar that followed was cheif-
ly an exchange of compliments pre-
Iiminary to business, but the Amban
| proved to be a shrewd and sensible
man, though reference to the as
sassination in Tibet of two of his
predecessors may perhaps have be-
trayed his relief at our presence in
Lhassa. As the representative of the
suzerain power-however nominal the
dependence of Tibet may have become
he Is factor of Importance in Ii
bet, and it is satisfactory that he
shows himself willing to do all in his
I 10 hui