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The Goorkhas invaded Tibet in 1791 with an army of less than 20,000 men, and, advancing through the Kirong and Kuti passes, overcame the frontier guards, and carried all before them up to the town of Degarehi, where they plundered the famous lamasery of Teshu Lumbo, the residence of the Teshu Lama.
Thus, after an interminable ride full of incident and excitement, near sunset we arrived at our destination. On the crown of a hill stood a fortress and large Lamasery. At its foot, in front of a large structure, the Pombo's gaudy tent had been pitched. The name of this place, as far as I could afterward ascertain, was Namj Laccé Galshio or Gyatsho.
Indeed he declared that our Buddha was not so strong as this priestess, and that she would show it by being avenged upon us. "After this we gave him food and turned him out of the Lamasery, and he went, saying that when he returned we should learn who spoke the truth.
So, unmolested and unnoticed, they reached the caravanserai in which the two men had lodged for several days before the festival. Here they hurriedly changed their costumes. When they emerged from it Muriel, her hair cropped almost to the scalp and her face stained a yellowish tint, was garbed as a boy-novice of a lamasery in the priestly dress, with a great rosary round her neck.
He was taught the Buddhist chants and how to drone them, how to carry his praying-wheel and finger a rosary to the murmured "Om mani padmi hung" of the Tibetans, and for he was something of an artist how to paint the Buddhist pictorial Wheel of Life, the Sid-pa-i Khor-lô or Cycle of Existence that the gentle Gautama, the Buddha, himself first drew and that hangs in the vestibule of every lamasery to teach priest and layman the leading law of their religion, Re-birth.
Each lamasery has set apart for its use the best land in that vicinity, the cultivation of which is done by the common people, who are little better than serfs, or peons. It is a notable fact that in this strange land there are many more men than women, although the reverse would be expected. The support of the hordes of lazy monks is a great incubus and retards the development of the country.
Unloading the yak, we pitched our tent under the lee of the topmost knob of rock and ate a couple of handfuls of dried fish and corn-cake. This was the last of the food that we had brought with us from the Lamasery, and we reflected with dismay that unless we could shoot something, our commissariat was now represented by the carcass of our old friend the yak.
Within a few days for they were not long in giving us their complete confidence those good-hearted and simple old monks told us all their history. It seemed that of old time there was a Lamasery here, in which dwelt several hundred brethren.
Speaking of gods, I must not forget to mention the great lamasery at Turin, about one hundred and seventy miles from Urga. For hours before we reached it we saw the ragged hills standing sharp and clear against the sky line. The peaks themselves are not more than two hundred feet in height, but they rise from a rocky plateau some distance above the level of the plain.
What would we have thought ourselves, when we were at the lamasery, if a body of European travellers had known we were there, imprisoned and in danger of our lives, and had passed by on the other side without attempting to rescue us?" Lady Meadowcroft knit her forehead. "That was us," she said, with an impatient nod, after a pause "and this is another person.
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