DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.649#0218
182 KELIGIOUS BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS.
observed, that at present it is, in most instances, too weak
to lay claim to the name of a fortification, particularly
if the establishment is an old one, as Tholing for instance,
which is mentioned in Ssanang Ssetsen's "History of the
Eastern Mongolians" to have been built 1014 a.d.1
The ground-floor is without windows, and is used
as a receptacle for provisions; it is generally a little
broader than the upper stories. These latter have large
windows and balconies. The windows have no panes of
glass, but are closed by black curtains, upon which
are sewn figures of a Latin cross, formed of white
stripes of stuff.2 The cross denotes quietness or peace,
and is well known in this quality to the Europeans who
visit Japan, where the Ipop- holes of the forts are
covered with such curtains in time of peace; when a war
breaks out they are all removed.3 The upper stories
are reached either by a staircase or by a broad, sloping
beam, in which incisions are made to serve in lieu of
steps. Each story is divided off into large compartments,
in which several Lamas live together; small cells, each
appropriated to a single person (as is the custom in
Eoman Catholic monasteries), are not known in Buddhist
establishments. The furniture is most plain; the chief
articles are low tables and benches (in the dining
room); bed-steads of rough-hewn planks, with blankets
and cushions, and different vessels. All these articles
are generally of very inferior workmanship. Stoves
1 Ssanang Ssetscn, ed. by Schmidt, p. 53.
2 See the plates in Turner, and the View of Himis by Hermann de Schlag-
intweit, 1. c. a,j
3 From an oral communication from Captain Fairholme, R. N.
observed, that at present it is, in most instances, too weak
to lay claim to the name of a fortification, particularly
if the establishment is an old one, as Tholing for instance,
which is mentioned in Ssanang Ssetsen's "History of the
Eastern Mongolians" to have been built 1014 a.d.1
The ground-floor is without windows, and is used
as a receptacle for provisions; it is generally a little
broader than the upper stories. These latter have large
windows and balconies. The windows have no panes of
glass, but are closed by black curtains, upon which
are sewn figures of a Latin cross, formed of white
stripes of stuff.2 The cross denotes quietness or peace,
and is well known in this quality to the Europeans who
visit Japan, where the Ipop- holes of the forts are
covered with such curtains in time of peace; when a war
breaks out they are all removed.3 The upper stories
are reached either by a staircase or by a broad, sloping
beam, in which incisions are made to serve in lieu of
steps. Each story is divided off into large compartments,
in which several Lamas live together; small cells, each
appropriated to a single person (as is the custom in
Eoman Catholic monasteries), are not known in Buddhist
establishments. The furniture is most plain; the chief
articles are low tables and benches (in the dining
room); bed-steads of rough-hewn planks, with blankets
and cushions, and different vessels. All these articles
are generally of very inferior workmanship. Stoves
1 Ssanang Ssetscn, ed. by Schmidt, p. 53.
2 See the plates in Turner, and the View of Himis by Hermann de Schlag-
intweit, 1. c. a,j
3 From an oral communication from Captain Fairholme, R. N.