Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 701

1850.

Travels of M. Huc.

659

much favored by the emperor, and inhabited by two thousand lamas, or monks. These religious idlers live in good houses, and amidst every comfort. In the centre of the lamazary is the temple of Bud- ha—as usual, an incongruous pile of peristyles, with contorted pillars, steps, and terraces, and a central building, where is throned a gigan- tic statue of a sitting Budha. Although the Mongolian lamazaries are not so great nor so wealthy as those of Tibet, still some are very considerable; none more so than that of Kurun, in the country of the Khalkas, near the Russian frontier. Thirty thousand lamas are sup- ported at this great temple, around which pilgrims from far-off distances, including the Yu-pí Táh-tsz', or "Tartars with skins like fish," pitch their tents. The Guison Tamba, or Lama-king of Kurun, is a person much distrusted, and looked

upon, from his power, with a very jealous eye by the imperial court. As in the case of the Tala Lama of Tibet, the lama of Kurun is supposed, or rather believed, never to die. He only transmigrates to another country, to return younger and fresher than ever. This is also the case with other lamas, and the metempsychosis is always sought for at the great lamazary of H'lassa, in Tibet, nor sought long in vain. Among the more cele- brated of these King-lamus, after those of H'lassa and Kurun, are those of Ninigan Lamana Kure, of the Blue City, of Tolon-nor, of Gé-ho Gul; and, within the Great Wall, of Peking and of Wútái hien in Shánsí.

The day after leaving Tchortchi, our travelers were relieved of a haunch of venison, which they had purchased in the morning, by a voracious eagle, which carried it off at the very moment they had taken their places to discuss the delicacy! Passing from the country of the nomadic Mongols to that of the agricultural tribe of Tumet, the missionaries experienced what most other travelers have under similar circumstances-annoyance at the change. "Without knowing it," says M. IIuc, our tastes had undergone an insensible change, and the Desert of Mongolia had brought us to a temper friendly to peace and solitude. As a consequence, when we again found ourselves amidst cultivated lands, in the midst of the agitations, troubles, and strug- gles of civilized life, we felt ourselves, as it were, oppressed and suffʊ- cated by civilization; air seemed to be wanting, and we felt as if we were about to die asphyxiated.”

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*[This designation would be more correct if it read, 'Tartars with skins of fishes,” for these nomads from the shores of the Pacific and wilds of Manchuria, dress in garments made from the skins of fishes, principally using, it is said, those of the sturgeon.]