[1] Captain Deasy, who marched over this same pass a few weeks later, calculated its height to be over 19,000 feet.

[2] The annual tribute from Lhassa to the Chinese Emperor does not travel by this road, but goes by Labrang.

[3] When we first joined the caravan on September 8th, they said they had been two months and twenty-five days on the road. They were expected in Tankar soon after we left, which was on October 17th.

[4] There are about seventy of these "incarnate saints" at Kumbum, among whom Mina Fu-yeh ranks sixth or seventh.

[5] Wei Fou T'ai, sent from Hunan to quell the rebellion.

[6] Fu-yeh is the Chinese equivalent of Buddha.

[7] Mina Fu-yeh is now in either his sixteenth or twenty-second lifetime; I am not sure which, so have given the lesser number in the text. This, is, of course, only since he became an incarnate saint; there are no records of his previous lives. Sakya Muni had altogether 551 lives, 510 of which were prior to his becoming a saint.

[8] Mina Fu-yeh's abbotship came to rather an abrupt termination owing to a quarrel with another influential Buddha called Shertoch Fu-yeh. At the time of the rebellion the priests were greatly exercised in their minds as to whether they should fight against the rebels or not. Most of the older men said that fighting was no part of a priest's duty, while the younger men were keen to be in the thick of it. Mina Fu-yeh, who was then abbot, said that they should not go out to fight, but that they should make every preparation, and if the monastery was attacked they should defend it to the last, otherwise they ought not to mix in worldly strife. This did not please the war party, who were headed by Shertoch Fu-yeh, and who made up their minds that fight they would. They went out on three separate occasions, and without doing any good; several were killed, a terrible thing for a devout Buddhist, for he who dies a violent death is reincarnated in an animal, and must complete a cycle of sixty lifetimes before he can again become a man. This made the war party even more bitter against Mina Fu-yeh, as they realised how much wiser the course he had recommended would have been, and so inimical did they become that he had to resign his post and for some time was in fear of his life. Most of them speak rather disparagingly of his successor, who is, they said, an insignificant Buddha, only in his third or fourth lifetime.

[9] Mr. W. W. Rockhill states that he was informed by Mr. W. B. Hemsley that this tree is the "white sandal-wood." ("Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet," p. 68.)

[10] On former occasions he had stated to Rijnhart that he would not go to Lhassa this lifetime, having been there in his last.

[11] I cannot help thinking that this is the stone mentioned by Mr. W. W. Rockhill ("Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet," p. 69) as being in the north-east corner of the Gold-Tiled Temple. He does not appear to have been inside the latter building, and we certainly saw no stone there resembling his.

[12] This act on the part of the Commander-in-Chief was greatly resented by the people of Sining, for which reason, it was supposed, he was afraid to enter the city on the 2nd and 3rd. The officials of Sining flatly refused to acquiesce in the Commander-in-Chief's acceptation of submission.

[13] "Dsun" signifying the particular division of the Tsaidam from which he came, the remainder being really his name.

[14] A photograph of this temple, as it used to be, faces page 64 of Rockhill's "Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet."

[15] Shuen-Hua-Fu is erroneously called a "Fu," for, strictly speaking, it is a Hsien. A Fu as nearly as possible corresponds to our "city" and a "Hsien" is only equal to a town, while a "Ting" is a place of the third class. A "Pu," properly speaking, means a fort, and appears to be equal to a "Ting" in importance. In some instances a city may have risen or fallen in importance since its title was originally fixed, such as, for instance, the city of Siao-Si-Fu, which is not much larger than a "Ting." In all towns of importance there is a yamen or magistrates' office, and the head civil official there is called a Fut'ai or Hsient'ai, as the case may be. In any large district there is also a higher official called a Taot'ai.

[16] Shahzad Mir, too, knew the direction of Pekin, so was not likely to wander off in a wrong direction.

[17] Huc and Gabet state that Tibetans have a practice of throwing these paper horses to the winds, and they are supposed to help travellers in distress.

[18] Huang-mi means yellow rice, just as Huang-ho means yellow river.

[19] Each camel man has a string of six animals, to the last of which a bell is attached. The owner has hold of the leading camel, and, as long as he hears the bell, he knows the rest are following all right; if it ceases he knows something is wrong.

[20] Sergeant Herring, formerly of the 2nd Life Guards and Metropolitan Police, remembers well the time when he was a member of the mounted escort allowed our ambassador in Pekin in days gone by.

[21] Our tickets cost sixty-five cents each. This railway had been open eleven years, and was at this time paying fifteen and a half per cent.

[22] Distances in miles start from Leh.