幸いにセゴーリの郵便局長をして居るベンガル人が、英語も知って居ればネパール語も知って居りますから、その人に就いて学び始めた。まあ、「盗人を捕らえて縄を綯（な）う」ような話です。けれども今日までは専（もっぱ）らチベット語ばかり学んで居りましたから、外（ほか）の言葉を学ぶ暇がなかった。学んだ所は一々手帳に記し、道を散歩しつつその手帳を頼みにネパール語の復習をするのですが、私がそこに着いてその翌日、例のごとくネパール語の復習をしつつ散歩して居りますと、汽車から上がって来た人の中にチベット服をつけた四十都合四人連の一行がこちらを指して来るです。「こりゃよい所にチベット人が出掛けて来た。どうかこの人に一つ話をつけて、一緒に行くような都合になればよいが」と思いまして、その人の端（はた）に行き、「あなたはどちらへお越しですか。」「私共はネパールの方に行く」という。「それじゃあ、あなたがたはチベットから来たのですか。」「いやそうでもないけれども、この中にはチベットから来た人も居る」という。で、私に向かっていいますには、「あなたは一体どこか。」「私はシナです。」「どちらからお越しになったのか。海の方から来られたか、あるいは陸の方から来られたか」という。
ここでもし、私が海の方から来たといいますと、彼らの疑いを受けて私は到底ネパール国にも入ることが出来ない位置に在るのです。というのはこの時分に海の方から出て来るシナ人は、すべてチベットには入れぬ事になって居ります。そこで私は「陸の方から来た」と答えて、話をしつつ、私の泊って居ります茅屋（あばらや）の方へ一緒に参りました。私の泊って居る所は竹の柱に茅葺き屋根というごく粗末な家で、その向こう側にもまたそんなような家があります。それは皆旅人の泊まる所ですが、別段宿賃を払う訳でもなしに、ただ薪代（まきだい）と喰物（くいもの）を買うてその代を払うだけの事です。その紳士の一行も向い側の茅屋に入ってしまいました。もちろんこの辺にはホテルなどという気の利（き）いたものもなく、また宿屋らしいものもない。その木賃宿が旅籠屋（はたごや）であるです。
（河口慧海『チベット旅行記』より）
It was like forging the chain after catching a criminal. But up to then, my time had been all taken up in learning Tibetan, and I had had no moment to spare for anything else. By good fortune, however, my stay there was not to be a long one. I found the postmaster of Sagauli, a Bengali, to be proficient both in English and Nepalese. As the thing had to be done in the most expeditious way possible, I started my work by noting down every Nepalese word the postmaster would teach me. The next day after my arrival at Sagauli, while I was out on a walk near the station with my note-book in hand, I noticed, among those who got off a train, a company of three men, one of whom was a gentleman, apparently of forty years of age and dressed in a Tibetan costume, another a priest about fifty years old, and the third unmistakably their servant. Thereupon a thought flashed on me that it would be a good thing for ma if I could travel with these Tibetans, as I immediately made bold to go up to them and ask whither they were going. I was told that their destination was Nepal; that they had not just then come from Tibet, but that one of them was a Tibetan. It then became their turn to question me, their opening enquiry being as to what country 1 belonged. I replied that I was a Chinese. "Which direction did you come from then? ― did you travel by land or by sea?” was the rejoinder sharply put to me next. That was a question I had to answer with caution. For the rule then in force in Tibet was to admit into that country no Chinaman coming by the sea. So I answered; "By land." As we conversed, so we walked, and presently we came in front of where I was lodging. In that part of the world there is no such smart thing as a hotel or an inn; all the accommodation one can get in this respect is a shanty of a rather primitive type, with bamboo posts and a straw roof. There are a number of these simple structures there, standing on the roadside and intended only for travellers, who have, however, nothing to pay for lodging in them ― they only pay the price of eatables and fuel, should they procure any. It was in one of these shanties that I was stopping, and when I excused myself from the company of my newly made acquaintances, the latter betook themselves into another on the opposite side of the street.
