surprised by her complexion, which was much fairer than is
usual among Thibetans--indeed her whole type of countenance was
Caucasian, which was not to be wondered at, considering, as I afterwards
discovered, that she was by birth a Georgian. She greeted me, in the
language common to all Thibetan occultists, as an old acquaintance, and
one whose arrival was evidently expected--indeed she pointed laughingly
to a bevy of damsels whom I now saw trooping towards us, some carrying
garlands, some playing upon musical instruments, some dancing in lively
measures, and singing their songs of welcome as they drew near. Then
Ushas--for that was the name (signifying "The Dawn") of the illuminata
whose acquaintance I had first made _in vacuo_--taking me by the hand,
led me to them, and said--

"Rejoice, O my sisters, at the long-anticipated arrival of the Western
_arhat_, who, in spite of the eminence which he has attained in the
mysteries of Esoteric Buddhism, and his intimate connection during so
many years with the Thibetan fraternity, has yet retained enough of his
original organic conditions to render him, even in the isolation of (here
she mentioned the region I had come from) susceptible to the higher
influence of the occult sisterhood. Receive him in your midst as the
_chela_ of a new avatar which will be unfolded to him under your tender
guidance. Take him in your arms, O my sisters, and comfort him with the
doctrines of Ila, the Divine, the Beautiful."

Taking me in their arms, I now found, was a mere formula or figure of
speech, and consisted only in throwing garlands over me. Still I was
much comforted, not merely by the grace and cordiality of their welcome,
but by the mention of Ila, whose name will doubtless be familiar to my
readers as occurring in a Sanscrit poem of the age immediately following
the Vedic period, called the Satapathabrahmana, when Manu was saved from
the flood, and offered the sacrifice "to be the model of future
generations." By this sacrifice he obtained a daughter named Ila, who
became supernaturally the mother of humanity, and who, I had always felt,
has been treated with too little consideration by the _mahatmas_--indeed
her name is not so much as even mentioned in Mr Sinnett's book. Of
course it was rather a shock to my spiritual pride, that I, a _mahatma_
of eminence myself, should be told that I was to be adopted as a mere
_chela_ by these ladies; but I remembered those beautiful lines