CHAPTER X - TESHU LUMBO

Summary

We passed by the foot of Teshu Lumbo, which is built on the lower declivity of a steep hill. The roof of the palace, which is large, is all of copper gilt. The building is of dark-coloured brick. The houses of the town rise one above another; four churches with gilt ornaments are mixed with them, and altogether it presents a prince y appearance. Many of the courts are spacious, flagged with stone, and with galleries running round them. The alleys, which are likewise paved, are narrow. The palace is appropriated to the Lama and his officers, to temples, granaries, warehouses, &c. The rest of the town is entirely inhabited by priests, who are in number about four thousand. The views of it, which the Lama afterwards gave to me, will convey a better idea of it than any account I can write. For there is no describing a place so as to give others a just notion of it.

I attended the Lama to his apartments, and as soon as I retired I was conducted to my own. They are new, having been built and finished by Chanzo Cusho during the Lama's absence at Desheripgay. There was one room for me, and another for Mr. Hamilton. I do not think the apartment allotted to me inferior to any at Teshu Lumbo; and although I have little success at these sorts of descriptions, I must attempt to give some account of it.