Note 48 — Chapter VI · RESIDENCE AT LHASA.

The earliest name of Mount Potala was Marpo ri, “the red hill.” King Srong-btsan gambo is said to have built a palace on its summit, and it was occupied by the kings of Tibet down to the time of the fifth Tale lama, who built about the middle of the seventeenth century the present palace. See Emil Schlagintweit, ‘Die Könige von Tibet,’ p. 49. Our author says the palace was built “by the fifth Dalai lama and his illustrious Regent Desi Sangye-gyatso.” In connection with our author’s audience of the Grand Lama, it is interesting to read Manning’s account, which agrees with it very closely.—(W. R.) ↑