Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 715

1850.

Travels of M. Huc.

673

governed by vassal chieftains, called tú-sz'. The chief tem- ple at Bathang is called B1, or Pa. The caravan was most hospi- tably received at this city, but the "Pacificator of Kingdoms" was getting daily worse, and the missionaries labored hard, upon his approaching decease, to convert him to the Christian faith, but with-

out success.

The beautiful and warm plain of Bathang had, after a rest of three days, to be again exchanged for cold mountain districts, varied with forest scenery.

In these forests, the common holly attained the size of a great tree. The mandarin Lí Kwoh-ngan expired on the third day's journey, at a picturesque little village called Samba. The mis- sionaries deeply regretted the loss of their conductor. His body was wrapped up in a white cloth, covered with sentences and images of Budha, and duly coffined. Thus, the next day, the caravan took its departure with three corpses. The chief being dead, the monarchi- cal form of government was succeeded by a democratic republic—a form of government so perfect, that the Chinese and Tibetans did not seem to be at all prepared for it, and everything went wrong, and all order was succeeded by a complete anarchy.

After three days' journey, they luckily arrived at Lí-t'áng, or the "Place of Copper," where a new mandarin was appointed to the government of the caravan; and at Tá-tsien-lú,“the Place of Arrows," they at length reached the Chinese frontier, having been three months on the journey from H'lassa. They parted here with their guard of Tibetans with many tears. These good moun- taineers had shown them every attention and kindness during a long and trying journey.

The next day, their legs being swollen and bruised by travel, they got into sedans, in which they were carried at the public expense to the capital of the province of Sz'chuen, where they were to he solemnly tried by the magistrates of the Celestial empire. The verdict of the mandarins is not recorded by M. Huc; but the result is mani- fest in the fact, that after a few months of unrecorded travel across

[Bathang, or Pating, is the post in the southwestern part of Sz'chuen, where the trade between China and Tibet centres; but why M. Huc calls it the " Plain of Cows" does not appear, for that is not the meaning of the characters employed by the Chinese to write the name of the town, any more than “Place of Copper" is the signification of líting, the next town the travelers came to. The power of the Chinese government over the mountain- eers in this region is probably exercised only so far as they are willing, or whenever it is for their advautage in their fends against other tribes. The imperial map extends the boundary of Sz'chuen as far west as Batang ]

VOL. XIX. NO. XII.

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