king a turn round a sacred object _in
the opposite direction_ to that prescribed by Buddhism. As to their dress,
our Lama said that they had no particular colour of garments, but their
priests frequently wore red clothes, as some sects of the Buddhist
priesthood do. Mr. Heyde, however, once on a journey in our neighbouring
county of Langskar, saw a man _clothed in black with blue borders_, who
the people said was a _Bonpo_."

[Mr. Rockhill (_Journey _, 63) saw at Kao miao-tzu "a _red_-gowned,
long-haired Boenbo Lama," and at Kumbum (p. 68), "was surprised to see quite
a large number of Boenbo Lamas, recognisable by their huge mops of hair and
their _red_ gowns, and also from their being dirtier than the ordinary run
of people."--H. C.]

The identity of the Bonpo and Taosse seems to have been accepted by Csoma
de Koroes, who identifies the Chinese founder of the latter, Lao-tseu, with
the Shen-rabs of the Tibetan Bonpos. Klaproth also says, "Bhonbp'o,
Bhanpo, and _Shen_, are the names by which are commonly designated (in
Tibetan) the Taoszu, or follower of the Chinese philosopher Laotseu."[11]
Schlagintweit refers to Schmidt's Tibetan Grammar (p. 209) and to the
Calcutta edition of the _Fo-koue-ki_ (p. 218) for the like identification,
but I do not know how far any two of these are independent testimonies.
General Cunningham, however, fully accepts the identity, and writes to me:
"Fahian (ch. xxiii.) calls the heretics who assembled at Ramagrama
_Taosse_,[12] thus identifying them with the Chinese Finitimists. The
Taosse are, therefore, the same as the _Swastikas_, or worshippers of the
mystic cross _Swasti_, who are also _Tirthakaras_, or 'Pure-doers.' The
synonymous word _Punya_ is probably the origin of _Pon_ or _Bon_, the
Tibetan Finitimists. From the same word comes the Burmese _P'ungyi_ or
_Pungi_." I may add that the Chinese envoy to Cambodia in 1296, whose
narrative Remusat has translated, describes a sect which he encountered
there, apparently Brahminical, as _Taosse_. And even if the Bonpo and the
Taosse were not fundamentally identical, it is extremely probable that the
Tibetan and Mongol Buddhists should have applied to them one name and
character. Each played towards them the same part in Tibet and in China
respectively; both were heretic sects and hated rivals; both made high
pretensions to asceticism and supernatural powers; both, I think we see
reason to believe, affected the dark clothing which Polo assi