Tankar Description by Rijnhart, 1901

Rijnhart 1901

Situated on the Hsi-ho River, about twenty-four miles nothwest of Kumbum and twenty miles east [should be west] of Topa, the Mohammaden stronghold, is Tankar (or Donkyr), a town of considerable commercial importance, being a sort of distributing depot for Chinese merchandise going into the interior... Along the Hsi-ho are narrow gorges which make the entrance to the Tankar valley difficult... The approach from the east is made charming by a mill and some trees outside the east gate, with beautiful temples on the hills in the rear. There is one principal long street lined on either side by stores in which are to be found Chinese wares, goods for bartering with Si-fan from the Lake district, grain, bread and foodstuffs of the Chinese. The yamens opening out into this street, a small lamasery, several wool depots, houses of citizens of Lhasa, and more Chinese temples, fill up the remainder of the space within the wall of the town. Through the latter are two gates, the eastern and western,outside of which are suburbs... p133-34

The inhabitants are a motley crowd, ten thousand in number, consisting of Chinese, Mongols with their characteristic face, genial and good-natured, the women with their headdress of velvet embroided with colored silks and set with silver and beads worn in front instead of at the back; the dress being otherwise the same as that of the Tibetans; they are gorgeously-arrayed Tibetans from Lhasa and the Si-fan Tibetans from the Lake district, smart and neat looking in comparison with many other tribes, their women having the heavy, cumbersome headdress at the back with shells, bright beads and pieces of cloth. p137