CHAPTER IV.

Aspect of the Koukou-Noor--Tribes of Kolos--Chronicle of the Origin of

the Blue Sea--Description and March of the Great Caravan--Passage of the

Pouhain Gol--Adventures of the Altere-Lama--Character of our

pro-cameleer--Mongols of Tsaidam--Pestilential Vapours of the

Bourhan-Bota--Ascent of the Chuga and Bayen-Kharat mountains--Wild

Cattle--Wild Mules--Men and Animals killed with the Cold--Encounter with

Brigands--Plateau of Tant-La--Hot Springs--Conflagration in the

Desert--Village of Na-Ptchu--Sale of Camels, and Hiring of Long-tailed

Oxen--Young Chaberon of the Kingdom of Khartchin--Cultivated Plains of

Pampou--Mountain of the Remission of Sins--Arrival at Lha-Ssa.

The Blue Lake, in Mongol Koukou-Noor, in Thibetian Tsot-Ngon-Po, was

anciently called by the Chinese Si-Hai (Western Sea); they now call it

Tsing-Hai (Blue Sea). This immense reservoir of water, which is more

than a hundred leagues in circumference, seems, in fact, to merit the

title of sea, rather than merely that of lake. To say nothing of its

vast extent, it is to be remarked that its waters are bitter and salt,

like those of the ocean, and undergo, in a similar manner, flux and

reflux. The marine odour which they exhale is smelt at a great distance,

far into the desert.

Towards the western portion of the Blue Sea there is a small island,

rocky and bare, inhabited by twenty contemplative Lamas, who have built

thereon a Buddhist temple, and some modest habitations, wherein they pass

their lives, in tranquil retirement, far from the distracting

disquietudes of the world. No one can go and visit them, for, throughout

the entire extent of the lake, there is not a single boat of any kind to

be seen; at all events we saw none, and the Mongols told us that among

their tribes no one ever thought of occupying himself in any way or

degree with navigation. In the winter, indeed, at the time of the more

intense cold, the water is frozen solidly enough to enable the shepherds

around to repair in pilgrimage to the Lamasery. They bear to the

contemplative Lamas their modest offerings of butter, tea, and tsamba,

and receive in exchange, benedictions and prayers for good pasturage and

prosperous flocks.

The tribes of the Koukou-Noor are divided into twenty-nine banners,

commanded by three Kiun-Wang, two Beile, two Beisse, four Koung, and

eighteen Tai-Tsi. All these princes are tributaries of the Chinese

emperor, and, every second year, repair to Peking, whither they carry, as

tribute, furs and gold-dust, which their subjects collect from the sands

of their rivers. The vast plains which adjoin the Blue Sea are of very

great fertility and of a most agreeable aspect, though entirely destitute

of trees; the grass is of prodigious height, and the numerous streams

which fertilize the soil, afford ample means to the numerous herds of the

desert for satiating their thirst. The Mongols, accordingly, are very

fond of setting up their tents in these magnificent pastures. The hordes

of brigands harass them in vain; they will not quit the country. They

content themselves with a frequent change of encampment, in order to

baffle their enemies, but when they can no longer avoid the danger they

encounter it with great bravery, and fight gallantly. The necessity

under which they permanently exist of defending their property and their

lives from the attacks of the Si-Fan, has, at length, rendered them

intrepidly courageous. At any hour of the day or night they are ready

for battle: they tend their cattle on horseback, lance in hand, fusil in

sling, and sabre in belt. What a difference between these vigorous

shepherds, with their long moustaches, and the languishing fiddle-fuddles

of Virgil, eternally occupied in piping on a flute, or in decorating with

ribands and flowers their pretty straw hats.

The brigands, who keep the Mongol tribes of the Koukou-Noor always on the

alert, are hordes of Si-Fan, or Eastern Thibetians, dwelling in the

Bayen-Kharat mountains, towards the sources of the Yellow River. In this

part of the country they are known under the generic appellation of Kolo.

Their peculiar haunt, it is said, are the deep gorges of the mountain,

whither it is impossible to penetrate without a guide, for all the

approaches are guarded by impassable torrents and frightful precipices.

The Kolos never quit these abodes except to scour the desert on a mission

of pillage and devastation. Their religion is Buddhism; but they have a

special idol of their own, whom they designate the Divinity of

Brigandism, and who, assuredly, enjoys their most intense devotion, their

most genuine worship. The chief business of their Lamas is to pray and

offer up sacrifices for the success of their predatory expeditions. It

is said that these brigands are in the revolting habit of eating the

hearts of their prisoners, in order to fortify their own courage; but,

for that matter, there is no monstrous practice which the Mongols of the

Koukou-Noor do not unhesitatingly attribute to these people.

The Kolos are divided into several tribes, each bearing a particular name

of its own; and it was only in the nomenclature of these tribes that we

ever, in this part of the world, heard of the Khalmouks, or Calmucks.

That which we, in Europe, ordinarily conceive to be Khalmoukia, is a

purely imaginary distinction; the Khalmouks are very far indeed from

enjoying, in Asia, the importance which our books of geography assign to

them. In the Khalmoukia of our imagining, no one ever heard of the

Khalmouks. It was a long time before we could even discover the

existence of the name at all; but, at last, we were lucky enough to meet

with a Lama who had travelled extensively in Eastern Thibet, and he told

us that among the Kolo, there is a small tribe called Kolo-Khalmouki. It

is just possible that at some former period the Khalmouks may have

enjoyed great importance, and have occupied a large extent of country;

but the great probability, at least, is, that it was the travellers of

the thirteenth century, who, relying upon some vague notions they had

picked up, represented this petty tribe to be a great nation.

Neither does the Koukou-Noor country itself merit the importance given to

it in our geographies: it occupies, in the maps, a far greater space than

it really possesses. Though comprising twenty-nine banners, its limits

are restricted: on the north it is bordered by Khilian-Chan, on the south

by the Yellow River, on the east by the province of Kan-Sou, on the west

by the river Tsaidam, where begins another Tartar country, inhabited by

tribes who bear the designation of Mongols of the Tsaidam.

According to the popular traditions of the Koukou-Noor, the Blue Sea did

not always occupy its present site: that great mass of water originally

covered, in Thibet, the place where the city of Lha-Ssa now stands. One

fine day it abandoned its immense reservoir there, and, by a subterranean

march, travelled to the place which now serves as its bed. The following

is the narrative of this marvellous event that was related to us.

In ancient times the Thibetians of the kingdom of Oui resolved to build a

temple in the centre of the great valley which they inhabited; they

collected, at vast expense, the richest materials, and the edifice rose

rapidly; but, just on the point of completion, it suddenly crumbled to

pieces, without any one having the least idea as to the cause of this

disaster. Next year they made new preparations, and laboured upon the

construction of the temple with equal ardour; the second temple, when

just completed, fell to pieces as the first had done; a third attempt was

made, the only result of which was a third catastrophe, exactly the same

with the two preceding. Every body was plunged in utter despair, and

there was talk of abandoning the enterprize. The king consulted a famous

diviner of the country, who replied that it had not been given to him to

know the cause which opposed the construction of the temple, but this he

knew: that there was a great saint in the East who possessed a certain

secret, which secret, being once extracted from him, the obstacle would

forthwith disappear. He could, however, give no exact information as to

who the great saint was, or where he lived. After protracted

deliberation, a Lama, of excellent address and great courage, was sent on

a mission of inquiry. He traversed all the districts east of the kingdom

of Oui; he visited the Tartar tribes, stopping for awhile wherever he

heard speak of any man especially noted for his sanctity and knowledge.

All his inquiries were fruitless: it was to no purpose he discoursed of

the valley of the kingdom of Oui, and of the temple which it had been

attempted to raise there: nobody comprehended at all what he was talking

about. He was returning home, depressed and disappointed, when, in

crossing the great plains which separate Thibet from China, the girth of

his saddle broke, and he fell from his horse. Perceiving, near at hand,

beside a small pond, a poor, dilapidated tent, he proceeded thither to

get his saddle repaired. Having fastened his horse to a stake at the

door of the tent, he entered and found within a venerable old man,

absorbed in prayer. "Brother," said the traveller, "may peace be ever in

thy dwelling." "Brother," replied the old man, without moving, "seat

thyself beside my hearth." The Thibetian Lama fancied he saw that the

old man was blind. "I perceive, with grief," said he, "that thou hast

lost the use of thy eyes." "Yes; 'tis now many years since I was

deprived of the happiness of contemplating the brightness of the sun, and

the verdure of our beautiful plains; but prayer is a great consolation in

my affliction. Brother, it seems to me that thy tongue has a peculiar

accent: art thou not a man of our tribes?" "I am a poor Lama of the

East. I made a vow to visit the temples that have been raised in the

Mongol countries, and to prostrate myself before the sainted personages I

should meet on my way. An accident has happened to me near this spot; I

have broken the girth of my saddle, and I have come to thy tent to mend

it." "I am blind," said the old man; "I cannot myself help thee; but

look round the tent, there are several straps, and thou canst take that

which will best answer thy purpose." While the stranger was selecting a

good strap, wherewith to make a new girth, the old man spoke: "O Lama of

eastern lands; happy art thou to be able to pass thy days visiting our

sacred monuments! The most magnificent temples are in the Mongol

countries; the Poba (Thibetians) will never attain anything like them:

'tis in vain they apply their utmost efforts to build such in their

beautiful valley; the foundations they put will always be sapped by the

waves of a subterranean sea, of which they do not suspect the existence."

After a moment's silence the old man added: "I have uttered these words

because thou art a Mongol Lama; but thou must lock them up in thy heart,

and never communicate them to a single person. If, in thy pilgrimages,

thou meetest a Lama of the kingdom of Oui, guard well thy tongue, for the

revealing my secret will cause the ruin of our country. When a Lama of

the kingdom of Oui shall know that in his valley there exists a

subterranean sea, the waters of that sea will forthwith depart thence,

and inundate our prairies."

He had scarcely uttered the last word, when the stranger rose and said to

him, "Unfortunate old man, save thyself, save thyself in haste: the

waters will speedily be here, for I am a Lama of the kingdom of Oui." So

saying, he jumped on his horse, and disappeared over the desert.

These words struck like a thunderbolt upon the poor old man. After a

moment of dull stupor he gave way to cries and groans. While yielding to

this excess of grief his son arrived, bringing home from pasture a small

herd of cattle. "My son," cried the old man, "saddle thy horse on the

instant, take thy sabre, and gallop off towards the West: thou wilt

overtake a foreign Lama, whom thou must kill, for he has stolen from me

my strap." "How!" exclaimed the young man, terror-struck, "wouldst thou

have me commit a murder? Wouldst thou, my father, whom all our tribes

venerate for thy great sanctity, order me to kill a poor traveller,

because he took from thy tent a strap of which he had, doubtless, need?"

"Go, go, my son, hasten, I conjure thee," cried the old man, throwing his

arms about in despair; "go and immolate that stranger, unless thou

wouldst have us all buried beneath the waves." The young man, believing

that his father laboured under a temporary fit of insanity, would not

contradict him, lest he should exasperate him still more; he therefore

mounted his horse and galloped after the Lama of the kingdom of Oui. He

came up with him before the evening: "Holy personage," said he, "pardon

me, that I interrupt your progress; this morning you rested in our tent,

and you took thence a strap, which my father is making a great outcry

for; the fury of the old man is so excessive, that he has ordered me to

put you to death; but it is no more permissible to execute the orders of

a raving old man than it is to fulfil those of a child. Give me back the

strap, and I will return to appease my father." The Lama of the kingdom

of Oui dismounted, took off the girth of his saddle, and gave it to the

young man, saying, "Your father gave me this strap, but, since he regrets

the gift, carry it back to him; old men are fanciful, but we must,

nevertheless, respect them, and carefully avoid occasioning them any

annoyance." The Lama took off his own girdle, made a saddle-girth of it,

and departed, the young man returning in all haste to his tent.

He arrived in the night time, and found his dwelling surrounded by a

multitude of shepherds, who, unable to comprehend the lamentations of the

great saint of their district, were awaiting, in much anxiety, the return

of his son. "My father, my father," cried the young man, dismounting,

"be calm, here is what thou wantedst." "And the stranger?" asked the old

man, "hast thou put him to death?" "I let him depart in peace for his

own country. Should I not have committed a great crime, had I murdered a

Lama who had done you no evil? Here is the strap he took from you."

And, so saying, he put the strap into his father's hands. The old man

shuddered in every limb, for he saw that his son had been overreached:

the same word in Mongol signifies both strap and secret. The old man had

meant that his son should kill the man who had stolen his secret from

him: but when he saw that his son brought back to him a strap, he cried

"The West triumphs; 'tis the will of heaven!" He then told the shepherds

to flee with their cattle and sheep in all haste, unless they desired to

be swallowed up by the waters. As to himself, he prostrated himself in

the centre of his tent and there resignedly awaited death.

Day had scarce dawned when there was heard underground a rumbling but

majestic sound, similar to the tumult of torrents rolling their waves

over the mountain sides. The sound advanced with fearful rapidity, and

the water of the pond, beside which the old man lived, was seen to be in

great commotion: then the earth opened with terrible shocks, and the

subterranean waters rose impetuously, and spread, like a vast sea, over

the plain, destroying infinite numbers of men and beasts who had not time

to escape. The old man was the first who perished beneath the waves.

The Lama, who bore the secret of this great catastrophe, upon arriving in

the kingdom of Oui, found his countrymen in utter consternation at

fearful sounds they had heard beneath them in the valley, and the nature

and cause of which no one could explain. He related the story of the

blind old man, and all immediately comprehended that the uproar which had

so alarmed them had been occasioned by the subterranean sea, on its

removal to the East. They resumed, with enthusiasm, the labours of

construction they had abandoned, and raised a magnificent temple, which

is still standing. An immense number of families settled around the

temple, and, by degrees, there was created a great city, which took the

name of Lha-Ssa (Land of Spirits).

This singular chronicle of the origin of the Blue Sea was first related

to us in Koukou-Noor; it was afterwards repeated to us at Lha-Ssa, in

almost precisely the same terms; but we could nowhere discover traces of

any historical fact with which the singular fable might be supposed to

correspond.

We abode in Koukou-Noor for nearly a month. Continual rumours of the

brigands compelled us to move our encampment five or six times, in order

to follow the Tartar tribes, who, at the least suggestion of approaching

assailants, change their quarters, taking care, however, never to remove

altogether from the rich pastures which border the Blue Sea.

Towards the end of October, the Thibetian embassy arrived, and we joined

the immense body, already swollen on its previous way by a great number

of Mongol caravans, which, like ourselves, availed themselves of this

favourable escort to Lha-Ssa. Formerly, the Thibetian government sent an

embassy every year to Peking. That of 1840 was attacked on its journey

by a large body of Kolos. The engagement lasted a whole day, but, in the

end, the Thibetians were victorious over their assailants, and continued

their journey. Next morning, however, it was discovered that they had no

longer amongst them the Tchanak-Kampo, {104} a Grand Lama, who

accompanies these embassies to Peking, in the character of representative

of the Tale-Lama. For several days he was sought all around, but to no

effect, and the only conclusion was that during the fight he had been

taken prisoner by the Kolos, and carried off. The embassy, however,

proceeded on its way, and arrived at Peking without its official head.

The emperor, of course, was tremendously afflicted.

In 1841, there was another battle with the brigands, and another

catastrophe. This time, the Tchanak-Kampo was not carried off by the

brigands, but he received from them a gash in the chest, of which he died

in a few days afterwards. The emperor, on hearing these melancholy

tidings, was, it is affirmed, altogether inconsolable, and forthwith sent

dispatches to the Tale-Lama, setting forth that, considering the

difficulties and dangers of the journey, he would henceforth require the

compliment of an embassy only once in three years. Accordingly, the

present embassy was the first which had been dispatched from Lha-Ssa

since 1841. On its journey out it had been fortunate enough to encounter

no brigands, and, consequently, its Tchanak-Kampo had been neither stolen

nor stabbed.

Next day, after our departure from Koukou-Noor, we placed ourselves at

the van of the caravan, and then halted on one side, in order to see the

immense procession defile before us, and so make acquaintance with our

travelling companions. The men and animals composing the caravan might

be thus estimated: 1500 long-haired oxen, 1200 horses, 1200 camels, and

2000 men, Thibetians and Tartars, some on foot, some on ox-back, but most

of them on horses and camels. All the cavalry were armed with lances,

sabres, bows and arrows, and matchlocks. The foot-men, designated Lakto,

were charged with the conduct of the files of camels and of the

capricious and disorderly march of the cattle. The Tchanak-Kampo

travelled in a large litter, carried by two mules. Besides this

multitude, whose journey extended to Lha-Ssa, there was an escort of 300

Chinese soldiers, furnished by the province of Kan-Sou, and 200 brave

Tartars, charged by the princes of Koukou-Noor, with the protection of

the holy embassy of the Tale-Lama, to the frontiers of Thibet.

The soldiers of the province of Kan-Sou fulfilled their functions like

thorough Chinese. In order to avoid any disagreeable encounter, they

carefully kept at the rear of the caravan, where they sang, smoked, and

joked at their ease, giving no sort of heed to any possible brigands.

Every day they exhibited the remarkable peculiarity of waiting until the

rest of the caravan had filed off, when they carefully searched all over

the night's encampment in order to pick up anything that might have been

left behind, and, of course, travelling somewhat in the rear of the rest,

they were further able to realize any matters that those preceding them

might drop during the progress of the day. The Tartar soldiers pursued a

conduct precisely the reverse: they were ever in the van, and at the

sides of the caravan, dashing about to the tops of the hills and the

depths of the valleys to see that no ambush of brigands lay in wait

there.

[Picture: The Tchanak-Kampo, and the Caravan]

The general march and particular movements of the caravan were executed

with tolerable order and precision, especially at the outset. Generally,

we started every morning two or three hours before sunrise, in order that

we might encamp about noon, and give the animals full time to feed during

the remainder of the day; the reveille was announced by a cannon shot;

forthwith, everybody rose, the fires were lighted, and while some of each

particular party loaded the beasts of burden, the others boiled the

kettle and prepared breakfast; a few cups of tea were drunk, a few

handfuls of tsamba eaten, and then the tent was taken down, and packed.

A second cannon-shot gave the signal for departure. A few of the more

experienced horsemen took the lead as guides; these were followed by long

files of camels, and then came the long-haired cattle, in herds of two or

three hundred beasts each, under the care of several lakto. The horsemen

had no fixed place in the procession; they dashed here and there, up and

down, just as their caprice suggested. The plaintive cries of the

camels, the roaring of the bulls, the lowing of the cows, the neighing of

the horses, the talking, bawling, laughing, singing of the travellers,

the whistling of the lakto to the beasts of burden, and, above all, the

innumerable bells tinkling from the necks of the yaks and the camels,

produced together an immense, undefinable concert, which, far from

wearying, seemed, on the contrary, to inspire everybody with fresh

courage and energy.

The caravan went on thus across the desert, stopping each day in plains,

in valleys, and on the mountain sides, improvising, with its tents, so

numerous and so varied in form and colour, a large town, which vanished

each morning, to reappear further on each evening. What an astonishing

thing it must have been for these vast and silent deserts, to find

themselves, all of a sudden, traversed by so numerous and so noisy a

multitude! When we viewed those infinite travelling tents, those large

herds, and those men, in turns shepherds and warriors, we could not help

frequently reflecting upon the march of the Israelites, when they went in

search of the Promised Land, through the solitudes of Median.

On quitting the shore of the Blue Sea, we directed our steps towards the

west, with a slight inclination, perhaps, southward. The first days of

our march were perfect poetry; everything was just as we could have

wished; the weather was magnificent, the road excellent, the water pure,

the pastures rich and ample. As to brigands, we lost all thought of

them. In the night, it was, indeed, rather cold; but this inconvenience

was easily obviated by the aid of our sheep-skin coats. We asked one

another what people could mean by representing this Thibet journey as

something so formidable; it seemed to us impossible for any one to travel

more comfortably, or more agreeably. Alas! this enchantment was not of

long duration.

Six days after our departure, we had to cross the Pouhain-Gol, a river

which derives its source from the slopes of the Nan-Chan mountains, and

throws itself into the Blue Sea. Its waters are not very deep, but being

distributed in some dozen channels, very close to one another, they

occupy altogether a breadth of more than a league. We had the misfortune

to reach the first branch of the Pouhain-Gol long before daybreak; the

water was frozen, but not thickly enough to serve as a bridge. The

horses which arrived first grew alarmed and would not advance; they

stopped on the bank, and gave the cattle time to come up with them. The

whole caravan thus became assembled at one point, and it would be

impossible to describe the disorder and confusion which prevailed in that

enormous mass, amid the darkness of night. At last, several horsemen,

pushing on their steeds and breaking the ice, actually and figuratively,

the whole caravan followed in their train: the ice cracked in all

directions, the animals stumbled about and splashed up the water, and the

men shouted and vociferated; the tumult was absolutely fearful. After

having traversed the first branch of the river, we had to manoeuvre, in

the same way, over the second, and then over the third, and so on. When

day broke, the Holy Embassy was still dabbling in the water: at length,

after infinite fatigue and infinite quaking, physical and moral, we had

the delight to leave behind us the twelve arms of the Pouhain-Gol, and to

find ourselves on dry land; but all our poetical visions had vanished,

and we began to think this manner of travelling perfectly detestable.

And yet everybody about us was in a state of jubilation, exclaiming that

the passage of the Pouhain-Gol had been admirably executed. Only one man

had broken his legs, and only two animals had been drowned. As to the

articles lost or stolen, during the protracted disorder, no one took any

heed to them.

When the caravan resumed its accustomed march, it presented a truly

ludicrous appearance. Men and animals were all, more or less, covered

with icicles. The horses walked on, very dolefully, evidently much

incommoded by their tails, which hung down, all in a mass, stiff and

motionless, as though they had been made of lead instead of hair. The

long hair on the legs of the camels had become magnificent icicles, which

knocked one against the other, as the animals advanced, with harmonious

discord. It was very manifest, however, that these fine ornaments were

not at all to the wearers' taste, for they endeavoured, from time to

time, to shake them off by stamping violently on the ground. As to the

long-haired oxen, they were regular caricatures; nothing can be conceived

more ludicrous than their appearance, as they slowly advanced, with legs

separated to the utmost possible width, in order to admit of an enormous

system of stalactites which hung from their bellies to the ground. The

poor brutes had been rendered so perfectly shapeless by the agglomeration

of icicles with which they were covered, that they looked as though they

were preserved in sugar-candy.

During the first few days of our march we were somewhat isolated and

lonely amid the multitude; without friends or even acquaintance.

However, we soon acquired companions, for there is nothing like

travelling to bring men together. The companions whom we entered into

association with, and beside whose tent we each day set up our own, were

neither merchants, nor pilgrims, nor members of the embassy itself, nor

simple travellers, like ourselves; they were four Lamas, who constituted

a category altogether apart. Two of them were from Lha-Ssa, one from

Further Thibet, and the fourth from the kingdom of Torgot. On our way,

they related to us their long and picturesque history, of which the

following is an outline.

The three Thibetian Lamas had become the disciples of a Grand Lama, named

Altere, who proposed to erect, in the vicinity of Lha-Ssa, a Buddhist

temple, which, in extent and magnificence, was to surpass all those

previously existing. One day he announced to his three disciples that

all his plans were formed, and that they must all now proceed upon a

grand quest for subscriptions wherewith to defray the enormous expenses

of the sacred construction. They accordingly all four set forth, with

hearts full of zeal and devotion. They first directed their steps

towards the north, and traversing all Central Asia, reached the kingdom

of Torgot, close to the Russian frontier. On their way, they called at

all the Lamaseries, and at the abode of all the Thibetian and Tartar

princes that lay near the route. Everywhere, they received considerable

offerings, for, besides that their object was of itself calculated to

excite the warmest interest in well-disposed minds, Altere-Lama had

letters of recommendation from the Tale-Lama, from the

Bandchan-Remboutchi, and from the heads of all the most famous Lamaseries

of Thibet. In Torgot, a rich Mongol Lama, touched with the devotion of

these intrepid collectors, offered them all his herds, and entreated

Altere-Lama to admit him among his disciples, so that he might aid them

in their mission through the countries of Tartary. Altere-Lama, on his

part, moved with a zeal so pure, a disinterestedness so entire, consented

to accept both his offerings and himself. The Lama collectors thus

became five in number.

From Torgot they directed their march towards the east, going from one

tribe to another, and everywhere augmenting their herds of cattle, sheep,

and horses. On their way they passed through the country of the

Khalkhas, where they stayed for some time in the Lamasery of the Great

Kouren, the offerings of the Tartar pilgrims flowing in abundantly.

Hence, they turned south, to Peking, where they converted into gold and

silver the innumerable animals which they had collected together from all

parts. After an extended residence in the capital of the Chinese empire,

they resumed their operations in the deserts of Tartary, and still

seeking subscriptions, and still receiving them, arrived at Kounboum. In

this famous and sainted Lamasery, capable of appreciating the merit of

good Lamas, the zeal and devotion of the celebrated questors attained a

colossal reputation; they became the objects of the public veneration,

and the professors, who aimed at perfection in their pupils, proposed to

them these five men as models.

Altere-Lama, after three years of so meritorious a quest, now only sighed

for the hour when he should return to Lha-Ssa and consecrate to the

construction of his temple all the rich offerings he had succeeded in

collecting. Great, therefore, was his joy, when he heard the

intelligence that the Thibetian embassy was at hand. He resolved to

avail himself of its escort, on its return from Peking, so as securely to

convey his gold and his silver through the dangerous district of the

Kolo. Meanwhile, he announced, he would apply all his attention to the

preparations required for this important journey.

But, alas! the projects of men are often frustrated at the very moment

when they seem on the point of succeeding in the most triumphant manner.

One fine day there arrived at Si-Ning-Fou an imperial courier

extraordinary, bearing dispatches by which the Grand Mandarin of that

town was ordered to arrange with the superior of the Lamasery of

Kounboum, for the immediate arrest of Altere-Lama, charged with having,

during the past three years, committed the most comprehensive swindling,

by means of certain letters of recommendation, falsely attributed to the

Tale-Lama. The orders of his imperial majesty were executed. One may

easily imagine the stupifaction, on the occasion, of the poor

Altere-Lama, and especially of his four disciples, who throughout the

affair, had acted with the most entire good faith. The very embassy, on

the protection of which Altere-Lama had so relied, was directed by the

Thibetian government to take charge of the Grand Questor, whose

marvellous successes had been published at Lha-Ssa, by the indiscreet

laudations of the pilgrims.

Altere-Lama, having been arrested on the spot, was immediately forwarded,

under safe escort, to Lha-Ssa, the route taken by his guard being that of

the imperial couriers, through the province of Sse-Tchouan. Upon his

arrival in the capital of Thibet, his case was to be investigated by his

natural judges. Meanwhile, his prodigious receipts were confiscated to

the benefit of the Tale-Lama; for, obviously, nothing could be more just

than that he should be placed in possession of the gold and the silver

which had been raised under the all-potent influence of his name. As to

the Grand Questor's four disciples, it was arranged that they should

await the return of the Thibetian embassy, and proceed with it to

Lha-Ssa, taking with them fifty-eight magnificent camels which the

Altere-Lama had procured, and which were to be at the disposal of the

Thibetian government.

These four unfortunate disciples were the travelling companions whom good

fortune had thrown in our way. The recollection of their fallen master

was ever in their minds, but the sentiments which that recollection

excited in them were not always the same. Sometimes they regarded their

master as a saint, sometimes as a swindler; one day they would pronounce

his name with veneration, raising their clasped hands to their forehead;

another day, they would curse him, and spit in the air, to show their

contempt for him. The Lama of Torgot, however, always made the best of

the matter. He reproached himself, sometimes, for having made an

offering of all his herds to a man who now developed, pretty manifestly,

every appearance of a rogue; but still he consoled himself that after all

the man's knavery had been the occasion of his seeing a good deal of the

world, and visiting the most celebrated Lamaseries. These four young men

were excellent fellows, and capital travelling companions. Every day

they gave us some fresh details of their varied adventures, and their

narratives frequently contributed to make us forget, for awhile, the

fatigues and miseries of the journey.

A permanent cause of the sufferings we had to endure was our pro-cameleer

Charadchambeul. At first, this young Lama appeared to us a budding

saint, but before long, we found that we had got amongst us a complete

little demon with a human face. The following adventure opened our eyes

to his character, and showed us what we should have to endure on his

account.

The day after the passage of the Pouhain-Gol, when we had been marching

for a part of the night, we remarked, on one of our camels, two great

packages, carefully enveloped in wrappers, which we had not before seen.

We thought, however, that some traveller, who had not been able to find

room for them on his own sumpter animal, had asked Charadchambeul to take

charge of them during the journey; and we, accordingly, quietly pursued

our way, without, at the time, recurring to the circumstance. When we

reached our encampment for the night, so soon as the baggage was taken

down, we saw, to our great surprise, our Lama of the Ratchico mountains

take the two packets, envelope them mysteriously in a piece of felt, and

hide them in a corner of the tent. There was evidently something here

which required explanation; and we accordingly desired Charadchambeul to

inform us what was this new luggage that we saw in the tent. He

approached us, and in a whisper as though fearing to be heard, told us

that during the night Buddha had bestowed on him a special grace, in

enabling him to find on the road a good thing, and then he added, with a

knavish smile, that at Lha-Ssa, this good thing would sell for at least

ten ounces of silver. We frowned, and required to see this same good

thing. Charadchambeul, having first carefully closed the door of the

tent, uncovered, with infinite emotion, his pretended godsend. It

consisted of two great leathern jars, full of a sort of brandy, that is

distilled in the province of Kan-Sou, and which is sold at a high price.

On these two jars were Thibetian characters indicating the well known

name of the proprietor. We had the charity to reject the thought that

Charadchambeul had stolen these jars, during the night; and preferred to

suppose that he had picked them up on the road. But our pro-cameleer was

a casuist of very loose morality. He pretended that the jars belonged to

him, that Buddha had made him a present of them, and that all which now

required to be done was carefully to conceal them, lest the previous

proprietor should discover them. Any attempt to reason such a worthy as

this into morality and justice, would have been simply lost labour and

time. We therefore emphatically declared to him that the jars were

neither our's nor his, that we would neither receive them into our tent

nor place them on our camels during the journey, and that we had no

desire whatever to arrive at Lha-Ssa with the character of being thieves.

And in order that he might labour under no sort of misconception as to

our feelings, we added, that unless he forthwith removed the jars from

our tent, we should instantly proceed and give information of the

circumstance to the proprietor. He seemed somewhat shaken by this

intimation, and in order effectually to induce him to restitution, we

advised him to carry what he had "found" to the ambassador, and request

him to return it to the owner. The Tchanak-Kampo, we said, would not

fail to be affected by his probity, and even if he did not give him a

reward in hand, would bear him in mind, and when we reached Lha-Ssa would

doubtless benefit him in some way. After an animated opposition, this

advice was adopted. Charadchambeul presented himself before the

Tchanak-Kampo, who said to him, on receiving the jars: "Thou art a good

Lama. A Lama who has justice in his heart, is acceptable to the

spirits." Charadchambeul returned perfectly furious, vehemently

exclaiming that we had induced him to commit an imbecility in giving up

the jars to the ambassador, who had presented him with nothing in return

but empty words. From that moment he vowed an implacable hatred towards

us. He did his work how and when he pleased; he took a delight in

wasting our provisions; every day he loaded us with abuse, and in his

rage often turning upon the poor animals, he would beat them about the

head till he had half killed them. To discharge the wretch there, amid

the desert, was impossible. We were fain therefore to arm ourselves with

patience and resignation, and to avoid irritating still more the man's

untamed ferocity.

Five days after the passage of the Pouhain-Gol, we reached Toulain-Gol, a

narrow, shallow river, which we crossed without any difficulty. The

caravan halted shortly afterwards near a Lamasery, which had the

appearance of former prosperity, but which was, at present, wholly

deserted. The temples and the Lamas cells, all tumbling in pieces, had

become the abode of bats and of enormous rats. We heard that this

Buddhist monastery, after having been besieged for three days by the

brigands, had been taken by them, the greater portion of the inmates

massacred, and the place itself plundered and demolished. From that time

forth, no Lama had ventured to settle in the spot. The vicinity,

however, was not so entirely uninhabited as we at first supposed. In

walking over some rocky hills close by, we found a herd of goats and

three miserable tents, concealed in a ravine. The poor inmates came out

and begged for a few leaves of tea and a little tsamba. Their eyes were

hollow, and their features pale and haggard. They knew not, they said,

where to take refuge, so as to live in peace. The fear of the brigands

was so powerful over them, that it divested them even of the courage to

flee away.

Next day the caravan continued its route, but the Chinese escort remained

encamped on the bank of the river; its task was completed, and after a

few days rest, it would return home. The Thibetian merchants, so far

from being distressed at the circumstance, said that now the Chinese

soldiers were no longer with them, they should be able to sleep at night,

freed from the fear of thieves.

On the 15th November, we quitted the magnificent plains of the

Koukou-Noor, and entered upon the territory of the Mongols of Tsaidam.

Immediately after crossing the river of that name, we found the aspect of

the country totally changed. Nature becomes all of a sudden savage and

sad; the soil, arid and stony, produces with difficulty a few dry,

saltpetrous bushes. The morose and melancholy tinge of these dismal

regions seems to have had its full influence upon the character of its

inhabitants, who are all evidently a prey to the spleen. They say very

little, and their language is so rude and guttural that other Mongols can

scarcely understand them. Mineral salt and borax abound on this arid and

almost wholly pastureless soil. You dig holes two or three feet deep,

and the salt collects therein, and crystallizes and purifies of itself,

without your having to take any trouble in the matter. The borax is

collected from small reservoirs, which become completely full of it. The

Thibetians carry quantities of it into their own country, where they sell

it to the goldsmiths, who apply it to facilitate the fusion of metals.

We stayed two days in the land of Tsaidam, feasting upon tsamba and some

goats which the shepherds gave in exchange for some bricks of tea. The

long-tailed oxen and the camels regaled themselves with the nitre and

salt which they had every where about for the picking up. The grand

object with the whole caravan was to get up its strength as much as

possible, with a view to the passage of the Bourhan-Bota, a mountain

noted for the pestilential vapours in which, as we were informed, it is

constantly enveloped.

We started at three in the morning, and after infinite sinuosities and

meanderings over this hilly country, we arrived, by nine o'clock, at the

foot of the Bourhan-Bota. There the caravan halted for a moment, as if

to poise its strength; everybody measured, with his eyes, the steep and

rugged paths of the lofty ascent, gazed with anxiety at a light, thin

vapour, which we were told was the pestilential vapour in question, and

for awhile the entire party was completely depressed and discouraged.

After having taken the hygeianic measures prescribed by tradition, and

which consist in masticating two or three cloves of garlic, we began to

clamber up the side of the mountain. Before long, the horses refused to

carry their riders, and all, men as well as animals, advanced on foot,

and step by step; by degrees, our faces grew pale, our hearts sick, and

our legs incapable of supporting us; we threw ourselves on the ground,

then rose again to make another effort; then once more prostrated

ourselves, and again rose to stumble on some paces farther; in this

deplorable fashion was it that we ascended the famous Bourhan-Bota.

Heavens! what wretchedness it was we went through; one's strength seemed

exhausted, one's head turning round, one's limbs dislocated; it was just

like a thoroughly bad sea-sickness; and yet, all the while, one has to

retain enough energy, not only to drag one's self on, but, moreover, to

keep thrashing the animals which lie down at every step, and can hardly

be got to move. One portion of the caravan, as a measure of precaution,

stopped half way up the mountain, in a gully where the pestilential

vapours, they said, were not so dense; the other portion of the caravan,

equally as a measure of precaution, exerted their most intense efforts in

order to make their way right up to the top, so as to avoid being

asphyxiated by that dreadful air, so completely charged with carbonic

acid. We were of the number of those who ascended the Bourhan-Bota at

one stretch. On reaching its summit, our lungs dilated at their ease.

The descent of the mountain was mere child's play, and we were soon able

to set up our tent far from the murderous air we had encountered on the

ascent.

The Bourhan-Bota mountain has this remarkable particularity, that the

deleterious vapour for which it is noted, is only found on the sides

facing the east and the north; elsewhere, the air of the mountain is

perfectly pure and respirable. The pestilential vapours themselves would

appear to be nothing more than carbonic acid gas. The people attached to

the embassy told us that when there is any wind, the vapours are scarcely

perceptible, but that they are very dangerous when the weather is calm

and serene. Carbonic acid gas being, as the reader is aware, heavier

than the atmospheric air, necessarily condenses on the surface of the

ground, and remains fixed there until some great agitation of the air

sets it in movement, disperses it in the atmosphere, and neutralizes its

effects. When we crossed the Bourhan-Bota, the weather was rather calm

than otherwise. We remarked, that when we were lying on the ground,

respiration was much more difficult; when, on the contrary, we raised

ourselves on horseback, the influence of the gas was scarcely felt. The

presence of the carbonic acid rendered it very difficult to light a fire;

the argols burned without flame, and threw out great quantities of smoke.

As to the manner in which the gas is formed, or as to whence it comes, we

can give no sort of idea. We will merely add, for the benefit of those

who are fond of seeking explanations of things in their names, that

Bourhan-Bota means Kitchen of Bourhan; Bourhan being a synonyme of

Buddha.

During the night we passed on the other side of the mountain, there fell

a frightful quantity of snow. Our companions, who had not ventured to

ascend the entire mountain at once, rejoined us in the morning; they

informed us that they had effected the ascent of the upper portion of the

mountain easily enough, the snow having dispersed the vapour.

The passage of the Bourhan-Bota was but a sort of apprenticeship. A few

days after, Mount Chuga put our strength and courage to a still more

formidable test. The day's march being long and laborious, the cannon

shot, our signal for departure, was heard at one o'clock in the morning.

We made our tea with melted snow, ate a good meal of tsamba, seasoned

with a clove of garlic, cut up into small bits, and started. When the

huge caravan first set itself in motion, the sky was clear, and a

brilliant moon lit up the great carpet of snow with which the whole

country was covered. Mount Chuga being not very steep in the direction

where we approached it, we were able to attain the summit by sunrise.

Almost immediately afterwards, however, the sky became thickly overcast

with clouds, and the wind began to blow with a violence which grew

constantly more and more intense. The opposite sides of the mountain we

found so encumbered with snow, that the animals were up to their girths

in it; they could only advance by a series of convulsive efforts, which

threw several of them into gulfs from which it was impossible to

extricate them, and where they accordingly perished. We marched in the

very teeth of a wind so strong and so icy, that it absolutely at times

choked our respiration, and despite our thick furs, made us tremble lest

we should be killed with the cold. In order to avoid the whirlwinds of

snow which the wind perpetually dashed in our faces, we adopted the

example of some of our fellow travellers, who bestrode their horses'

backs with their faces to the tail, leaving the animals to follow the

guidance of their instinct. When we reached the foot of the mountain,

and could use our eyes, we found that more than one face had been frozen

in the descent. Poor M. Gabet, among the rest, had to deplore the

temporary decease of his nose and ears. Everybody's skin was more or

less chapped and cut.

The caravan halted at the foot of Mount Chuga, and each member of it

sought refuge for awhile in the labyrinths of a number of adjacent

defiles. Exhausted with hunger, and our limbs thoroughly benumbed, what

we wanted to bring us to, was a good fire, a good supper, and a good

well-warmed bed; but the Chuga is far from possessing the comfortable

features of the Alps; no Buddhist monks have as yet bethought themselves

of taking up their abode there for the solace and salvation of poor

travellers. We were, consequently, fain to set up our tent amid the

snow, and then to go in search of what argols we could burn. It was a

spectacle worthy of all pity to see that multitude, wandering about in

all directions, and rummaging up the snow, in the hope of lighting upon

some charming thick bed of argols. For ourselves, after long and

laborious research, we managed to collect just enough of the article to

melt three great lumps of ice, which we extracted by aid of a hatchet,

from an adjacent pond. Our fire not being strong enough to boil the

kettle, we had to content ourselves with infusing our tsamba in some

tepid water, and gulping it down in order to prevent its freezing in our

hands. Such was all the supper we had after our frightful day's journey.

We then rolled ourselves up in our goat-skins and blankets, and,

crouching in a corner of the tent, awaited the cannon-shot that was to

summon us to our delightful _Impressions de Voyage_.

We left in this picturesque and enchanting encampment, the Tartar

soldiers who had escorted us since our departure from Koukou-Noor; they

were no longer able to extend to us their generous protection, for, that

very day, we were about to quit Tartary, and to enter the territory of

Hither Thibet. The Chinese and Tartar soldiers having thus left us, the

embassy had now only to rely upon its own internal resources. As we have

already stated, this great body of 2,000 men was completely armed, and

everyone, with the merest exception, had announced himself prepared to

show himself, upon occasion, a good soldier. But some how or other the

whilome so martial and valorous air of the caravan had become singularly

modified since the passage of the Bourhan-Bota. Nobody sang now, nobody

joked, nobody laughed, nobody pranced about on his horse; everybody was

dull and silent; the moustaches which heretofore had been so fiercely

turned up, were now humbly veiled beneath the lamb-skins with which all

our faces were covered up to the eyes. All our gallant soldiers had made

up their lances, fusils, sabres, bows and arrows, into bundles, which

were packed upon their sumpter animals. For that matter, the fear of

being killed by the brigands scarcely occurred now to any one: the point

was to avoid being killed by the cold.

It was on Mount Chuga that the long train of our real miseries really

began. The snow, the wind, and the cold there set to work upon us, with

a fury which daily increased. The deserts of Thibet are certainly the

most frightful country that it is possible to conceive. The ground

continuing to rise, vegetation diminished as we advanced, and the cold

grew more and more intense. Death now hovered over the unfortunate

caravan. The want of water and of pasturage soon destroyed the strength

of our animals. Each day we had to abandon beasts of burden that could

drag themselves on no further. The turn of the men came somewhat later.

The aspect of the road was of dismal auspice. For several days, we

travelled through what seemed the excavations of a great cemetery. Human

bones, and the carcases of animals presenting themselves at every step,

seemed to warn us that, in this fatal region, amidst this savage nature,

the caravans which had preceded us, had preceded us in death.

To complete our misery, M. Gabet fell ill, his health abandoning him just

at the moment when the frightful difficulties of the route called for

redoubled energy and courage. The excessive cold he had undergone on the

passage of Mount Chuga, had entirely broken up his strength. To regain

his previous vigour, he needed repose, tonic drinks, and a substantial

nourishment, whereas all we had to give him was barley-meal, and tea made

with snow water; and, moreover, notwithstanding his extreme weakness, he

had every day to ride on horseback, and to struggle against an iron

climate. And we had two months more of this travelling before us, in the

depth of winter. Our prospect was, indeed, sombre!

Towards the commencement of September, we arrived in sight of the

Bayen-Kharat, a famous chain of mountains, extending from south-east to

north-west, between the Hoang-Ho and the Kin-Cha-Kiang. These two great

rivers, after running a parallel course on either side of the

Bayen-Kharat, then separate and take opposite directions, the one towards

the north, the other towards the south. After a thousand capricious

meanderings in Tartary and Thibet, they both enter the Chinese empire;

and after having watered it from west to east, they approach each other,

towards their mouths, and fall into the Yellow Sea very nearly together.

The point at which we crossed the Bayen-Kharat is not far from the

sources of the Yellow River; they lay on our left, and a couple of days'

journey would have enabled us to visit them; but this was by no means the

season for pleasure trips. We had no fancy for a tourist's excursion to

the sources of the Yellow River: how to cross the Bayen-Kharat was ample

occupation for our thoughts.

From its foot to its summit the mountain was completely enveloped in a

thick coat of snow. Before undertaking the ascent, the principal members

of the embassy held a council. The question was not whether they should

pass the mountain: if they desired to reach Lha-Ssa, the passage of the

mountain was an essential preliminary; nor was it the question, whether

they should await the melting of the snow; the point was simply whether

it would be more advantageous to ascend the mountain at once or to wait

till next day. The fear of avalanches filled every one's mind, and we

should all have gladly subscribed to effect an assurance against the

wind. After the example of all the councils in the world, the council of

the Thibetian embassy was soon divided into two parties, the one

contending that it would be better to start forthwith, the other

insisting that we ought, by all means, to wait till the morrow.

To extricate themselves from this embarrassment, they had recourse to the

Lamas, who had the reputation of being diviners. But this expedient did

not combine all minds in unity. Among the diviners there were some who

declared that this day would be calm, but that the next day there would

be a terrible wind, and there were others who announced an exactly

contrary opinion. The caravan thus became divided into two camps, that

of movement and that of non-movement. It will at once be understood that

in our character of French citizens, we instinctively placed ourselves in

the ranks of the progressists; that is to say, of those who desired to

advance, and to have done with this villainous mountain as soon as

possible. It appeared to us, moreover, that reason was altogether on our

side. The weather just then was perfectly calm; but we knew not what it

might be on the morrow. Our party, therefore, proceeded to scale these

mountains of snow, sometimes on horseback, but more frequently on foot.

In the latter case, we made our animals precede us, and we hung on to

their tails, a mode of ascending mountains which is certainly the least

fatiguing of all. M. Gabet suffered dreadfully, but God, of his infinite

goodness, gave us strength and energy enough to reach the other side.

The weather was calm throughout, and we were assailed by no avalanche

whatever.

Next morning, at daybreak, the party who had remained behind, advanced

and crossed the mountain with entire success. As we had had the

politeness to wait for them, they joined us, and we entered together a

valley where the temperature was comparatively mild. The excellence of

the pasturage induced the caravan to take a day's rest here. A deep

lake, in the ice of which we dug wells, supplied us with abundance of

water. We had plenty of fuel, too, for the embassies and pilgrimages

being in the habit of halting in the valley, after the passage of the

Bayen-Kharat, one is always sure to find plenty of argols there. We all

kept up great fires throughout our stay, burning all the burnable things

we could find, without the smallest consideration for our successors,

leaving it to our 15,000 long-haired oxen to supply the deficit.

We quitted the great valley of Bayen-Kharat, and set up our tents on the

banks of the Mouroui-Oussou, or, as the Thibetians call it, Polei-Tchou

(river of the Lord.) Towards its source, this magnificent river bears

the name of Mouroui-Oussou (tortuous river); further on it is called

Kin-Cha-Kiang (river of golden sand), and arrived in the province of

Sse-Tchouan, it becomes the famous Yang-Dze-Kiang (blue river.) As we

were passing the Mouroui-Oussou, on the ice, a singular spectacle

presented itself. We had previously, from our encampment, observed dark,

shapeless masses, ranged across this great river; and it was not until we

came quite close to these fantastic islets that we could at all make head

or tail of them. Then we found out that they were neither more nor less

than upwards of fifty wild cattle, absolutely encrusted in the ice. They

had no doubt attempted to swim across the river, at the precise moment of

the concretion of the waters, and had been so hemmed in by the flakes as

to be unable to extricate themselves. Their fine heads, surmounted with

great horns, were still above the surface; the rest of the bodies was

enclosed by the ice, which was so transparent as to give a full view of

the form and position of the unlucky animals, which looked as though they

were still swimming. The eagles and crows had pecked out their eyes.

Wild cattle are of frequent occurrence in the deserts of Hither Thibet.

They always live in great herds, and prefer the summits of the mountains.

During the summer, indeed, they descend into the valleys in order to

quench their thirst in the streams and ponds; but throughout the long

winter season, they remain on the heights feeding on snow, and on a very

hard rough grass they find there. These animals, which are of enormous

size, with long black hair, are especially remarkable for the immense

dimensions and splendid form of their horns. It is not at all prudent to

hunt them, for they are said to be extremely ferocious. When, indeed,

you find two or three of them separated from the main herd, you may

venture to attack them; but the assailants must be numerous, in order to

make sure of their game, for if they do not kill the animal at once there

is decided danger of his killing them. One day we perceived one of these

creatures licking up the nitre in a small place encircled with rocks.

Eight men, armed with matchlocks, left the caravan, and posted themselves

in ambush, without being detected by the bull. Eight gun-shots were

fired at once; the bull raised his head, looked round with fiery eyes in

search of the places whence he had been assailed, and then dashed over

the rocks into the plain, where he tore about furiously, roaring awfully.

The hunters affirmed that he had been wounded, but that, intimidated by

the appearance of the caravan, he had not ventured to turn upon his

assailants.

Wild mules are also very numerous in Hither Tartary. After we had passed

the Mouroui-Oussou we saw some almost every day. This animal, which our

naturalists call _cheval hemione_, a horse half-ass, is of the size of an

ordinary mule; but its form is finer and its movements more graceful and

active; its hair, red on the back, grows lighter and lighter down to the

belly, where it is almost white. The head, large and ugly, is wholly at

variance with the elegance of its body; when in slow motion, it carries

its head erect, and its long ears extended; when it gallops, it turns its

head to the wind, and raises its tail, which exactly resembles that of

the ordinary mule; its neigh is ringing, clear, and sonorous, and its

speed so great that no Thibetian or Tartar horseman can overtake it. The

mode of taking it, is to post oneself in ambush near the places that lead

to the springs where they drink, and to shoot it with arrows or bullets:

the flesh is excellent, and the skins are converted into boots. The

hemiones are productive, and their young, from generation to generation,

are always of the same species. They have never been tamed to domestic

purposes. We heard of individuals having been taken quite young, and

brought up with other foals; but it has always been found impracticable

to mount them or to get them to carry any burden. With the first

opportunity, they run away, and resume their wild state. It did not,

however, appear to us that they were so extremely fierce as they were

represented: we have seen them frolicking about with the horses of our

caravan, when pasturing; and it was only on the approach of man, whom

they see and scent at a great distance, that they took to flight. The

lynx, the chamois, the reindeer, and the wild goat abound in Hither

Tartary.

[Picture: Wild mules of Tartary]

Some days after the passage of the Mouroui-Oussou, the caravan began to

break up; those who had camels, went on a-head, refusing to be any longer

delayed by the slow progress of the long-haired oxen. Besides, the

nature of the country no longer permitted so large a body to encamp on

one spot. The pasturages became so scarce and meagre, that the animals

of the caravan could not travel all together, without the danger of

starving all together. We joined the camel party, and soon left behind

us the long-haired oxen. The camel party itself was before long fain to

subdivide; and the grand unity once broken, there were formed a number of

petty caravans, which did not always concur, either as to the place of

encampment or the hour of departure.

We were imperceptibly attaining the highest point of Upper Asia, when a

terrible north wind, which lasted fifteen days, combined with the fearful

severity of the temperature, menaced us with destruction. The weather

was still clear; but the cold was so intense that even at mid-day we

scarcely felt the influence of the sun's rays, and then we had the utmost

difficulty in standing against the wind. During the rest of the day, and

more especially during the night, we were under constant apprehension of

dying with cold. Everybody's face and hands were regularly ploughed up.

To give something like an idea of this cold, the reality of which,

however, can never be appreciated, except by those who have felt it, it

may suffice to mention a circumstance which seemed to us rather striking.

Every morning, before proceeding on our journey, we ate a meal, and then

we did not eat again until the evening, after we had encamped. As tsamba

is not a very toothsome affair, we could not get down, at a time, as much

as was required for our nourishment during the day; so we used to make

three or four balls of it, with our tea, and keep these in reserve, to be

eaten, from time to time, on our road. The hot paste was wrapped in a

piece of hot linen, and then deposited in our breast. Over it, were all

our clothes; to wit, a thick robe of sheepskin, then a lamb-skin jacket,

then a short fox-skin cloak, and then a great wool overall; now, upon

every one of the fifteen days in question, our tsamba cakes were always

frozen. When we took them out, they were merely so many balls of ice,

which, notwithstanding, we were fain to devour, at the risk of breaking

our teeth, in order to avoid the greater risk of starvation.

The animals, overcome with fatigue and privation, had infinite difficulty

in at all resisting the intensity of the cold. The mules and horses,

being less vigorous than the camels and long-haired oxen, required

especial attention. We were obliged to pack them in great pieces of

carpet, carefully fastened round the body, the head being enveloped in

rolls of camel's hair. Under any other circumstances this singular

costume would have excited our hilarity, but just then, we were in no

laughing mood. Despite all these precautions, the animals of the caravan

were decimated by death.

The numerous rivers that we had to pass upon the ice were another source

of inconceivable misery and fatigue. Camels are so awkward and their

walk is so uncouth and heavy, that in order to facilitate their passage,

we were compelled to make a path for them across each river, either by

strewing sand and dust, or by breaking the first coat of ice with our

hatchets. After this, we had to take the brutes, one by one, and guide

them carefully over the path thus traced out; if they had the ill-luck to

stumble or slip, it was all over with them; down they threw themselves on

the ice, and it was only with the utmost labour they could be got up

again. We had first to take off their baggage, then to drag them with

ropes to the bank, and then to stretch a carpet on which they might be

induced to rise; sometimes all this labour was lost: you might beat the

obstinate animals, pull them, kick them; not an effort would they make to

get on their legs; in such cases, the only course was to leave them where

they lay, for it was clearly impossible to wait, in those hideous

localities, until the pig-headed brute chose to rise.

All these combined miseries ended in casting the poor travellers into a

depression bordering on despair. To the mortality of the animals, was

now added that of the men, who, hopelessly seized upon by the cold, were

abandoned, yet living, on the road. One day, when the exhaustion of our

animals had compelled us to relax our march, so that we were somewhat

behind the main body, we perceived a traveller sitting on a great stone,

his head bent forward on his chest, his arms pressed against his sides,

and his whole frame motionless as a statue. We called to him several

times, but he made no reply, and did not even indicate, by the slightest

movement, that he heard us. "How absurd," said we to each other, "for a

man to loiter in this way in such dreadful weather. The wretched fellow

will assuredly die of cold." We called to him once more, but he remained

silent and motionless as before. We dismounted, went up to him, and

recognised in him a young Mongol Lama, who had often paid us a visit in

our tent. His face was exactly like wax, and his eyes, half-opened, had

a glassy appearance; icicles hung from his nostrils and from the corners

of his mouth. We spoke to him, but obtained no answer; and for a moment

we thought him dead. Presently, however, he opened his eyes, and fixed

them upon us with a horrible expression of stupifaction: the poor

creature was frozen, and we comprehended at once that he had been

abandoned by his companions. It seemed to us so frightful to leave a man

to die, without making an effort to save him, that we did not hesitate to

take him with us. We took him from the stone on which he had been

placed, enveloped him in a wrapper, seated him upon Samdadchiemba's

little mule, and thus brought him to the encampment. When we had set up

our tent, we went to visit the companions of this poor young man. Upon

our informing them what we had done, they prostrated themselves in token

of thanks, and said that we were people of excellent hearts, but that we

had given ourselves much labour in vain, for that the case was beyond

cure. "He is frozen," said they, "and nothing can prevent the cold from

getting to his heart." We ourselves did not participate in this

despairing view of the case, and we returned to our tent, accompanied by

one of the patient's companions, to see what further could be done. When

we reached our temporary home, the young Lama was dead.

More than forty men of the caravan were abandoned still living, in the

desert, without the slightest possibility of our aiding them. They were

carried on horseback and on camelback so long as any hope remained, but

when they could no longer eat, or speak, or hold themselves up, they were

left on the way-side. The general body of the caravan could not stay to

nurse them, in a barren desert, where there was hourly danger of wild

beasts, of robbers, and, worse than all, of a deficiency of food. Yet,

it was a fearful spectacle to see these dying men abandoned on the road!

As a last token of sympathy, we placed beside each, a wooden cup and a

small bag of barley-meal, and then the caravan mournfully proceeded on

its way. As soon as the last straggler had passed on, the crows and

vultures that incessantly hovered above the caravan, would pounce down

upon the unhappy creatures who retained just enough of life to feel

themselves torn and mangled by these birds of prey.

The north wind greatly aggravated M. Gabet's malady. From day to day his

condition grew more alarming. His extreme weakness would not permit him

to walk, and being thus precluded from warming himself by means of a

little exercise, his feet, hands, and face were completely frozen; his

lips became livid, and his eyes almost extinct; by-and-by he was not able

to support himself on horseback. Our only remedy was to wrap him in

blankets, to pack him upon a camel, and to leave the rest to the merciful

goodness of Divine Providence.

One day, as we were following the sinuosities of a valley, our hearts

oppressed with sad thoughts, all of a sudden we perceived two horsemen

make their appearance on the ridge of an adjacent hill. At this time, we

were travelling in the company of a small party of Thibetian merchants,

who, like ourselves, had allowed the main body of the caravan to precede

them, in order to save their camels the fatigue of a too hurried march.

"Tsong-Kaba," cried the Thibetians, "see, there are horsemen yonder, yet

we are in the desert, and every one knows that there are not even

shepherds in this locality." They had scarcely uttered these words, when

a number of other horsemen appeared at different points on the hills,

and, to our extreme alarm, dashed down towards us at a gallop. What

could these horsemen be doing in so barren a region? What could they

want with us? The case was clear: we had fallen into the hands of

thieves. Their appearance, as they approached, was anything but

reassuring: a carbine slung at the saddle bow, two long sabres in the

girdle, thick black hair falling in disorder over the shoulders, glaring

eyes, and a wolf's skin stuck on the head by way of cap; such was the

portrait of each of the gentlemen who now favoured us with their company.

There were twenty-seven of them, while we numbered only eighteen, of

which eighteen all were by no means practised warriors. However, both

armies alighted, and a valorous Thibetian of our party advanced to parley

with the chief of the brigands, who was distinguished from his men by two

red pennants which floated from his saddle back. After a long and

somewhat animated conversation; "Who is that man?" asked the chief of the

Kolo, pointing to M. Gabet, who, fastened upon his camel, was the only

person who had not alighted. "He is a Grand Lama of the western sky,"

replied the Thibetian merchant; "the power of his prayers is infinite."

The Kolo raised his clasped hands to his forehead, in token of respect,

and looked at M. Gabet, who, with his frozen face, and his singular

envelope of many-coloured wrappers, was by no means unlike those alarming

idols that we see in pagan temples. After contemplating for awhile the

famous Lama of the western sky, the brigand addressed some further words,

in an under tone, to the Thibetian merchant; then, making a sign to his

companions, they all jumped into their saddles, set off at a gallop, and

soon disappeared behind the mountains. "Do not let us go any further

to-day," said the Thibetian merchant; "but set up our tents where we are;

the Kolo are robbers, but they have lofty and generous souls; when they

see that we place ourselves without fear in their hands, they will not

attack us. Besides," added he, "I believe they hold in much awe the

power of the Lamas of the western sky." We adopted the counsel of the

Thibetian merchants, and proceeded to encamp.

The tents were scarcely set up, when the Kolo reappeared on the crest of

the mountain, and once more galloped down upon us with their habitual

impetuosity. The chief alone entered the encampment, his men awaiting him

at a short distance outside. The Kolo addressed the Thibetian who had

previously conversed with him. "I have come," said he, "for an

explanation of a point that I don't at all understand. You know that we

are encamped on the other side of the mountain, yet you venture to set up

your tents here, close by us. How many men, then, have you in your

company?" "We are only eighteen; you, I believe, are twenty-seven in

number; but brave men never run away." "You'll fight, then?" "If there

were not several invalids amongst us, I would answer, Yes; for I have

already shown the Kolo that I am not afraid of them." "Have you fought

with the Kolo? When was it? What's your name?" "It's five years ago,

at the affair of the Tchanak-Kampo, and here's a little reminiscence of

it;" and, throwing back the sleeve of his right arm, he showed the

cicatrice of a great sabre cut. The brigand laughed, and again requested

his interlocutor's name. "I am called Rala-Tchembe," said the merchant;

"you ought to know the name." "Yes, all the Kolos know it; it is the

name of a brave man." So saying, he dismounted, and taking a sabre from

his girdle, presented it to the Thibetian. "Here," said he, "accept this

sabre; 'tis the best I have; we have fought one another before; in

future, when we meet, it shall be as brothers." The Thibetian received

the brigand's present, and gave him, in return, a handsome bow and quiver

which he had bought at Peking.

The Kolo, who had remained outside the camp, upon seeing their chief

fraternize with the chief of the caravan, dismounted, fastened their

horses to each other, two and two, by the bridles, and came to drink a

friendly cup of tea with the travellers, who now, at length, began to

breathe freely. All these brigands were extremely affable, and they

asked us various questions about the Tartar-Khalkhas, whom, they said,

they were particularly anxious to see, by reason that, in the preceding

year, these warriors had killed three of their companions, whom they were

eager to avenge. We had a little chat about politics too. The brigands

affirmed that they were warm friends of the Tale-Lama, and irreconcilable

enemies to the Emperor of China; on which account they seldom failed to

pillage the embassy on its way to Peking, because the Emperor was

unworthy to receive gifts from the Tale-Lama, but that they ordinarily

respected it on its return, because it was altogether fitting that the

Emperor should send gifts to the Tale-Lama. After having done honour to

the tea and tsamba of the caravan, the brigands wished us a good journey,

and returned to their own encampment. All these fraternal manifestations

did not prevent our sleeping with one eye open; our repose, however, was

not disturbed, and in the morning we resumed our way in peace. Of the

many thousands of pilgrims who have performed the journey to Lha-Ssa,

there are very few who can boast of having had so close a view of the

robbers, at so small a cost.

We had escaped one great danger; but another awaited us, we were

informed, far more formidable in its character, though different in kind.

We were beginning to ascend the vast chain of the Tant-La mountains; on

the plateau of which, our travelling companions assured us, the invalids

would die, and those who were now well would become invalids, with but a

small chance of living. The death of M. Gabet was considered quite a

matter of certainty. After six days laborious ascent of several

mountains, placed amphitheatrically, one above another, we at length

reached the famous plateau, the most elevated point, perhaps, on the

earth's surface. The snow there appeared an incrustation, an ordinary

portion of the soil. It cracked beneath our feet, but the feet left

scarcely any impression upon it. The entire vegetation consisted of an

occasional tuft of a low, sharp-pointed, smooth grass, ligneous within,

and as hard as iron, but not brittle; so that it might very well be

converted into mattress needles. The animals were, however, so

famishing, that they were fain to attack even this atrocious forage,

which absolutely cracked between their teeth, and could be realized at

all only by vigorous efforts and at the cost of infinite lip bleeding.

From the brow of this magnificent plateau, we could see below us the

peaks and needles of numerous ridges, the ramifications of which were

lost in the horizon. We had never witnessed anything at all comparable

with this grand, this gigantic spectacle. During the twelve days that we

were journeying along the heights of Tant-La, we enjoyed fine weather;

the air was calm, and it pleased God to bless us each day with a warm,

genial sunshine, that materially modified the ordinary coldness of the

atmosphere. Still the air, excessively rarified at that enormous

altitude, was very piercing, and monstrous eagles, which followed the

track of the caravan, were daily provided with a number of dead bodies.

The small caravan of the French mission itself paid its tribute to death;

but, happily, that tribute was only in the shape of our little black

mule, which we abandoned at once with regret and with resignation. The

dismal prophecy that had been announced with reference to M. Gabet was

falsified. The mountains, which were to have been fatal to him, proved,

on the contrary, highly favourable, restoring to him, by degrees, health

and strength. This blessing, almost unexpected by us, even at the hands

of the God of Mercy, made us forget all our past miseries. We resumed

all our courage, and firmly entertained the hope that the Almighty would

permit us to accomplish our journey.

The descent of Tant-La, though long in duration, was rapid in itself.

Throughout four whole days, we were going down, as it seemed, a gigantic

staircase, each step of which consisted of a mountain. At the bottom, we

found some hot springs, of an extremely magnificent description. Amongst

huge rocks, you see a great number of reservoirs, hollowed out by the

hand of nature, in which the water boils and bubbles, as in a vast

cauldron over a fierce fire. Sometimes the active fluid escapes through

the fissures of the rocks, and leaps, in all directions, by a thousand

capricious jets. Every now and then the ebullition, in particular

reservoirs, grows so furious, that tall columns of water rise into the

air, as though impelled by some tremendous pumping machinery. Above

these springs, thick vapours, collecting in the air, condense into white

clouds. The water is sulphureous. After bubbling and dashing about in

its huge granite reservoirs, it boils over, and quitting the rocks, which

had seemed to wish to keep it captive, pours down by various currents

into a small valley below, where it forms a large stream flowing over a

bed of flints, yellow as gold. These boiling waters do not long preserve

their fluidity. The extreme rigour of the atmosphere cools them so

rapidly, that within a mile and a half from its source, the stream they

have thus formed is almost frozen through. These hot springs are of

frequent occurrence in the mountains of Thibet, and the Lama physicians,

who attribute to them considerable medicinal virtue, constantly prescribe

their use, both internally and externally.

From the Tant-La mountains to Lha-Ssa, the ground constantly declines.

As you descend, the intensity of the cold diminishes, and the earth

becomes clothed with more vigorous and more varied vegetation. One

evening, we encamped in a large plain, where the pasturage was

marvellously abundant, and as our cattle had been for some time past on

very short commons indeed, we determined to give them the full benefit of

the present opportunity, and to remain where we were for two days.

Next morning, as we were quietly preparing our tea, we perceived in the

distance a troop of horsemen galloping towards our encampment at full

speed. The sight seemed to freeze the very blood in our veins; we stood

for a moment perfectly petrified. After the first moment of stupor, we

rushed out of our tent, and ran to Rala-Tchembe. "The Kolo! the Kolo!"

cried we; "here's a great body of Kolo advancing against us." The

Thibetian merchants, who were boiling their tea and mixing their tsamba,

laughed at our alarm, and told us to sit down quite at our ease. "Take

breakfast with us," said they; "there are no Kolo to fear here; the

horsemen you see yonder are friends. We are now entering upon an

inhabited country; behind the hill there, to the right, are a number of

black tents, and the horsemen, whom you take to be Kolo, are shepherds."

These words restored our equanimity, and with our equanimity returned our

appetite, so that we were very happy to accept the invitation to

breakfast with which we had been favoured. We had scarcely taken up a

cup of buttered tea before the horsemen made their appearance at the door

of the tent. So far from being brigands, they were worthy fellows who

came to sell us butter and fresh meat; their saddles were regular

butchers' stalls hung with joints of mutton and venison, which rested on

the sides of their horses. We purchased eight legs of mutton, which,

being frozen, were easily susceptible of transport. They cost us an old

pair of Peking boots, a Peking steel, and the saddle of our defunct mule,

which luckily could also boast of Peking origin. Everything coming from

Peking is highly prized by the Thibetians, more especially by that

portion of the population which has not advanced beyond the pastoral and

nomadic life. The merchants who accompany the caravan take care,

accordingly, to label every package "Goods from Peking." Snuff is

especially an object of earnest competition among the Thibetians. All

the shepherds asked us whether we had not snuff from Peking. M. Huc, who

was the only snuff-taker of our party, had formerly possessed a quantity

of the precious commodity, but it had all departed, and for the last

eight days he had been reduced to the necessity of filling his snuff-box

and his nose with a frightful mixture of dust and ashes. Those who are

devotees of snuff, will at once comprehend all the horrors to poor M. Huc

of this deplorable position.

Condemned for the last two months to live upon barley-meal, moistened

with tea, the mere sight of our legs of mutton seemed to fortify our

stomachs and invigorate our emaciated limbs. The remainder of the day

was occupied in culinary preparations. By way of condiment and

seasoning, we had only a little garlic, and that little so frozen and

dried that it was almost imperceptible in its shell. We peeled, however,

all we had, and stuck it into two legs of mutton, which we set to boil in

our great cauldron. The argols, which abounded in this blessed plain,

supplied ample materials for cooking our inestimable supper. The sun was

just setting, and Samdadchiemba, who had been inspecting one of the legs

of mutton with his thumb-nail, had triumphantly announced that the mutton

was boiled to a bubble, when we heard in all directions, the disastrous

cry, "Fire! fire!" (_Mi yon! mi yon_!) At one bound we were outside our

tent, where we found that the flame, which had caught some dry grass, in

the interior of the encampment, and menaced to assail also our linen

tents, was spreading about, in all directions, with fearful rapidity.

All the travellers, armed with their felt carpets, were endeavouring to

stifle the flame, or at all events to keep it from reaching the tents,

and in this latter effort they were quite successful. The fire, repulsed

on all sides, forced an issue from the encampment, and rushed out into

the desert, where, driven by the wind, it spread over the pasturages,

which it devoured as it went. We thought, however, that we had nothing

further to fear; but the cry, "Save the camels! save the [Picture: Fire

in the camp] camels!" at once reminded us how little we knew of a

conflagration in the desert.

We soon perceived that the camels stolidly awaited the flame, instead of

fleeing from it, as the horses and oxen did. We hereupon hastened to the

succour of our beasts, which, at the moment, seemed tolerably remote from

the flame. The flame, however, reached them as soon as we did, and at

once surrounded us and them. It was to no purpose we pushed and beat the

stupid brutes; not an inch would they stir; but there they stood

phlegmatically gaping at us with an air that seemed to ask us, what right

we had to come and interrupt them at their meals. We really felt as if

we could have killed the impracticable beasts. The fire consumed so

rapidly the grass it encountered, that it soon assailed the camels, and

caught their long, thick hair; and it was with the utmost exertion that,

by the aid of the felt carpets we had brought with us, we extinguished

the flame upon their bodies. We got three of them out of the fire, with

only the end of their hair singed, but the fourth was reduced to a

deplorable condition; not a bristle remained on its entire body; the

whole system of hair was burned down to the skim, and the skin itself was

terribly charred.

The extent of pasturage consumed by the flame might be about a mile and a

quarter long by three quarters of a mile broad. The Thibetians were in

ecstasies at their good fortune in having the progress of conflagration

so soon stayed, and we fully participated in their joy, when we learned

the full extent of the evil with which we had been menaced. We were

informed that if the fire had continued much longer it would have reached

the black tents, in which case the shepherds would have pursued and

infallibly massacred us. Nothing can equal the fury of these poor

children of the desert when they find the pastures, which are their only

resource, reduced to ashes, no matter whether by malice or by mischance.

It is much the same thing to them as destroying their herds.

When we resumed our journey the broiled camel was not yet dead, but it

was altogether incapable of service; the three others were fain to yield

to circumstances, and to share among them the portion of baggage which

their unlucky travelling companion had hitherto borne. However, the

burdens of all of them had very materially diminished in weight since our

departure from Koukou-Noor; our sacks of meal had become little better

than sacks of emptiness; so that, after descending the Tant-La mountains

we had been compelled to put ourselves upon an allowance of two cups of

tsamba per man, per diem. Before our departure we had made a fair

calculation of our reasonable wants, _in prospectu_; but no such

calculation could cover the waste committed upon our provender by our two

cameleers; by the one through indifference and stupidity, by the other

through malice and knavery.

Fortunately we were now approaching a large Thibetian station, where we

should find the means of renewing our stores.

After following, for several days, a long series of valleys, where we

saw, from time to time, black tents and great herds of yaks, we at last

encamped beside a large Thibetian village. It stands on the banks of the

river Na-Ptchu, indicated on M. Andriveau-Goujon's map, by the Mongol

name of Khara-Oussou, both denominations equally signifying black waters.

The village of Na-Ptchu is the first Thibetian station of any importance

that you pass on this route to Lha-Ssa. The village consists of

mud-houses and a number of black tents. The inhabitants do not cultivate

the ground. Although they always live on the same spot, they are

shepherds like the nomadic tribes, and occupy themselves solely with the

breeding of cattle. We were informed that at some very remote period, a

king of Koukou-Noor made war upon the Thibetians, and having subjugated

them to a large extent, gave the district of Na-Ptchu to the soldiers

whom he had brought with him. Though these Tartars are now fused with

the Thibetians, one may still observe among the black tents, a certain

number of Mongol huts. This event may also serve to explain the origin

of a number of Mongol expressions which are used in the country, having

passed within the domain of the Thibetian idiom.

[Picture: View of Na-Ptchu]

The caravans which repair to Lha-Ssa, are necessitated to remain several

days at Na-Ptchu, in order to arrange a fresh system of conveyance; for

the difficulties of an awfully rocky road do not permit camels to proceed

further. Our first business, therefore, was to sell our animals; but

they were so wretchedly worn that no one would look at them. At last, a

sort of veterinary surgeon, who, doubtless, had some recipe for restoring

their strength and appearances, made us an offer, and we sold him the

three for fifteen ounces of silver, throwing in the grilled one into the

bargain. These fifteen ounces of silver just sufficed to pay the hire of

six long-haired oxen, to carry our baggage to Lha-Ssa.

A second operation was to discharge the Lama of the Ratchico mountains.

After having settled with him on very liberal terms, we told him that if

he proposed to visit Lha-Ssa, he must find some other companions, for

that he might consider himself wholly freed from the engagements which he

had contracted with us; and so, at last, we got rid of this rascal, whose

misconduct had fully doubled the trouble and misery that we had

experienced on the way in his company.

Our conscience imposes upon us the duty of here warning persons whom any

circumstances may lead to Na-Ptchu, to be carefully on their guard there

against thieves. The inhabitants of this Thibetian village are

remarkable for their peculations, robbing every Mongol or other caravan

that comes to the place, in the most shameful manner. At night, they

creep into the travellers' tents, and carry off whatever they can lay

hands upon; and in broad day itself they exercise their deplorable

ingenuity in this line, with a coolness, a presence of mind, and an

ability which might arouse envy in the most distinguished Parisian

thieves.

After having laid in a supply of butter, tsamba, and legs of mutton, we

proceeded on our way to Lha-Ssa, from which we were now only distant

fifteen days' march. Our travelling companions were some Mongols of the

kingdom of Khartchin, who were repairing in pilgrimage to Mouhe-Dehot

(the Eternal Sanctuary) as the Tartars call Lha-Ssa, and who had with

them their Grand Chaberon; that is to say, a Living Buddha, the superior

of their Lamasery. This Chaberon was a young man of eighteen, whose

manners were agreeable and gentlemanly, and whose face, full of ingenuous

candour, contrasted singularly with the part which he was constrained

habitually to enact. At the age of five he had been declared Buddha and

Grand Lama of the Buddhists of Khartchin, and he was now about to pass a

few years in one of the Grand Lamaseries of Lha-Ssa, in the study of

prayers and of the other knowledge befitting his dignity. A brother of

the King of Khartchin and several Lamas of quality were in attendance to

escort and wait upon him. The title of Living Buddha seemed to be a dead

weight upon this poor young man. It was quite manifest that he would

very much have liked to laugh and chat and frolic about at his ease; and

that, _en route_, it would have been far more agreeable to him to have

dashed about on his horse, whither he fancied, than to ride, as he did,

solemnly between two horsemen, who, out of their extreme respect, never

once quitted his sides. Again, when they had reached an encampment,

instead of remaining eternally squatted on cushions, in a corner of his

tent, apeing the idols in the Lamasery, he would have liked to have

rambled about the desert, taking part in the occupations of nomadic life;

but he was permitted to do nothing of the sort. His business was to be

Buddha, and to concern himself in no degree with matters which

appertained to mere mortals.

The young Chaberon derived no small pleasure from an occasional chat in

our tent; there, at all events, he was able to lay aside, for a time, his

official divinity, and to belong to mankind. He heard with great

interest what we told him about the men and things of Europe; and

questioned us, with much ingenuity, respecting our religion, which

evidently appeared to him a very fine one. When we asked him, whether it

would not be better to be a worshipper of Jehovah than a Chaberon, he

replied that he could not say. He did not at all like us to interrogate

him respecting his anterior life, and his continual incarnations; he

would blush when any such questions were put to him, and would always put

an end to the conversation by saying that the subject was painful to him.

The simple fact was that the poor lad found himself involved in a sort of

religious labyrinth, the meanderings of which were perfectly unknown to

him.

The road which leads from Na-Ptchu to Lha-Ssa is, in general, rocky and

very laborious, and when it attains the chain of the Koiran mountains it

becomes fatiguing in the highest degree. Yet, as you advance, your heart

grows lighter and lighter, at finding yourself in a more and more

populous country. The black tents that speckle the background of the

landscape, the numerous parties of pilgrims repairing to Lha-Ssa, the

infinite inscriptions engraved on the stones erected on each side of the

way, the small caravans of long-tailed oxen that you meet at

intervals--all this contributes to alleviate the fatigues of the journey.

When you come within a few days' march of Lha-Ssa, the exclusively

nomadic character of the Thibetians gradually disappears. Already, a few

cultivated fields adorn the desert; houses insensibly take the place of

black tents. At length, the shepherds vanish altogether, and you find

yourself amidst an agricultural people.

On the fifteenth day after our departure from Na-Ptchu, we arrived at

Pampou, which, on account of its proximity to Lha-Ssa is regarded by the

pilgrims as the vestibule of the holy city. Pampou, erroneously

designated Panctou on the map, is a fine plain watered by a broad river,

a portion of whose stream, distributed in canals, diffuses fertility all

around. There is no village, properly so called; but you see, in all

directions, large farm houses with handsome terraces in front, and

beautifully white with lime-wash. Each is surrounded with tall trees,

and surmounted with a little tower, in the form of a pigeon-house, whence

float banners of various colours, covered with Thibetian inscriptions.

After travelling for more than three months through hideous deserts,

where the only living creatures you meet are brigands and wild beasts,

the plain of Pampou seemed to us the most delicious spot in the world.

Our long and painful journeying had so nearly reduced us to the savage

state, that any thing in the shape of civilization struck us as

absolutely marvellous. We were in ecstasies with everything: a house, a

tree, a plough, a furrow in the ploughed field, the slightest object

seemed to us worthy of attention. That, however, which most forcibly

impressed us, was the prodigious elevation of the temperature which we

remarked in this cultivated plain. Although it was now the end of

January, the river and its canals were merely edged with a thin coat of

ice, and scarcely any of the people wore furs.

At Pampou, our caravan had to undergo another transformation. Generally

speaking, the long-haired oxen are here replaced by donkeys, small in

size, but very robust, and accustomed to carry baggage. The difficulty

of procuring a sufficient number of these donkeys to convey the baggage

of the Khartchin-Lamas, rendered it necessary for us to remain two days

at Pampou. We availed ourselves of the opportunity to arrange our

toilet, as well as we could. Our hair and beards were so thick, our

faces so blackened with the smoke of the tent, so ploughed up with the

cold, so worn, so deplorable, that, when we had here the means of looking

at ourselves in a glass, we were ready to weep with compassion at our

melancholy appearance. Our costume was perfectly in unison with our

persons.

The people of Pampou are for the most part in very easy circumstances,

and they are always gay and frolicsome accordingly. Every evening they

assemble, in front of the different farms, where men, women, and children

dance to the accompaniment of their own voices. On the termination of

the _bal champetre_, the farmer regales the company with a sort of sharp

drink, made with fermented barley, and which, with the addition of hops,

would be very like our beer.

After a two days' hunt through all the farms of the neighbourhood, the

donkey-caravan was organized, and we went on our way. Between us and

Lha-Ssa there was only a mountain, but this mountain was, past

contradiction, the most rugged and toilsome that we had as yet

encountered. The Thibetians and Mongols ascend it with great unction,

for it is understood amongst them that whoever attains its summit,

attains, _ipso facto_, a remission of all his or her sins. This is

certain, at all events, that whoever attains the summit has undergone on

his way a most severe penance: whether that penance is adequate to the

remission of sins, is another question altogether. We had departed at

one o'clock in the morning, yet it was not till ten in the forenoon that

we reached this so beneficial summit. We were fain to walk nearly the

whole distance, so impracticable is it to retain one's seat on horseback

along the rugged and rocky path.

The sun was nearly setting when, issuing from the last of the infinite

sinuosities of the mountain, we found ourselves in a vast plain, and saw

on our right Lha-Ssa, the famous metropolis of the Buddhic world. The

multitude of aged trees which surround the city with a verdant wall; the

tall white houses, with their flat roofs and their towers; the numerous

temples with their gilt roofs, the Buddha-La, above which rises the

palace of the Tale-Lama--all these features communicate to Lha-Ssa a

majestic and imposing aspect.

At the entrance of the town, some Mongols with whom we had formed an

acquaintance on the road, and who had preceded us by several days, met

us, and invited us to accompany them to lodgings which they had been

friendly enough to prepare for us. It was now the 29th January, 1846;

and it was eighteen months since we had parted from the Valley of Black

Waters.

[Picture: Chinese and Tartar male head-dresses]

[Picture: View of Lha-Ssa]