Note 5 — Tale II. (continued 2)

Obö. “A heap of stones on which every traveller is expected of his piety to throw one or more as he goes by.” (Jülg.) Abbé Huc describes them thus: “They consist simply of an enormous pile of stones heaped up without any order, surmounted with dried branches of trees, while from them hang other branches and strips of cloth on which are inscribed verses in the Tibet and Mongol languages. At its base is a large granite urn in which the devotees burn incense. They offer besides pieces of money which the next Chinese traveller, after sundry ceremonious genuflexions before the Obö, carefully collects and pockets. These Obös are very numerous.”