Returning to his lodgings, Ugyen made the acquaintance of a lieutenant, or Dingpon, named Nyima tsering, who was putting up in the same house. Ugyen plied him with chang, and when he had become very jolly over it, he questioned him about the military arrangements of Gyantse. The Dingpon stated that there were ordinarily 500 Tibetan soldiers stationed here. This force was divided into two battalions under two Rupon. Under each Rupon were two captains (Gyapon) and four lieutenants, or Dingpon. The commander, or Dahpon, of the Gyantse troops was Tedingpa. Besides these troops there are 50 Chinese soldiers under a Chinese official called Da-loye,[1] and the native militia. The troops both at Gyantse and Shigatse are under the inspection of the Chinese paymaster (Pogpon) of Shigatse. Nyima tsering told Ugyen that the Tibetan soldiers were very poorly paid by the Government. The Emperor of China contributes towards their maintenance five rupees per man a year, and the Government of Tibet gives them forty pounds of barley per man a month, but no pay in money, on the ground that they are furnished by the landholders at the rate of one soldier for every kang[2] of land.
The Dingpon and Gyapon receive pay at the rate of thirteen srang and twenty-five srang a year from the imperial treasury, but no more rations from the Tibetan Government than the soldiers.
The Emperor allows Chinese soldiers serving in Tibet a family allowance of six srang a month and sixty pounds of rice per head as subsistence allowance, in addition to their monthly pay of six srang.[3] On the next day (January 2) Ugyen surveyed the town and its great monastery, the Palkhor choide. A stone wall nearly two miles and a half long surrounds the town. He estimated its length, by means of his prayer-beads, to be 4500 paces.[4] At each pace he dropped a bead
- ↑ Ta Laoyeh is the honorific appellation claimed by all subordinate Chinese officers in Tibet, from the rank of Pa-tsung (sergeant) to that of Shou-pei, or major. The Chinese officer in command of the post of Gyantse is, I believe, a Chien-tsung, or lieutenant. On the Tibetan military organization, see chap. vii. p. 180.—(W. R.)
- ↑ The ordinary kang is a measure of land in which about 400 lbs. of seed-grain can be sown. The State tax on each kang is 50 srang (or ounces of silver) a year.—(S. C. D.)
- ↑ On the pay and allowances of the Chinese troops in Tibet, see J.R.A.S., n.s. xxiii., p. 276–278. In many places along the route between Lhasa and Tachienlu the Chinese soldiers are never paid in cash, but only receive brick-tea, the value of which is arbitrarily fixed by the paymaster, who cheats the poor devils most disgracefully. A srang is an ounce of silver, the Chinese tael.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Georgi, op. cit., p. 451, says of this town, Kiangse: "Civitas præclara et planire ad radius montium. Ad Urbis, præsidium Arx est inædificata rupi, musis, et fossis aquæ
