With a number of
intermediate places of happiness and punishment they even believe in a
hell, where the souls of sinners are tormented by fire and ice.

"God sees and knows everything, and He is everywhere," exclaimed the
Lama, "but we cannot see Him. Only the _Chanchubs_ can see and speak to
Him."

"What are the evil qualities to be mostly avoided?" I inquired of the
high Lama, who spoke a little Hindustani.

"Luxury, pride and envy," he replied.

"Do you ever expect to become a saint?" I asked him.

"Yes, I hope so, but it takes five hundred transmigrations of an
uncontaminated soul before one can be one."

Then, as if waking to a sudden thought, he seized my hand impulsively and
spread my fingers open. Having done this, he muttered two or three words
of surprise. His face became serious, even solemn, and he treated me with
strange obsequiousness. Rushing out of the temple, he went to inform the
other Lamas of his discovery, whatever it was. They crowded round him,
and from their words and gestures it was easy to see that they were
bewildered.

When I left the company of the strange idols and came into the courtyard,
every Lama wished to examine and touch my hand, and the sudden change in
their behaviour was to me a source of great curiosity, until I learnt the
real cause of it some weeks later.

CHAPTER XLVII

The Jong Pen's statements regarding me--Sects of
Lamas--Lamaseries--Government allowance--Ignorance of the
crowds--How Lamas are recruited--Lamas, novices, and
menials--Dances and hypnotism--Infallibility--Celibacy and
vice--Sculptors--Prayer-wheels and revolving
instruments--Nunneries--Human bones for eating vessels and
musical instruments--Blood-drinking.

BEFORE I left the monastery, the Lamas, who had now become more or less
accustomed to me, asked me many questions regarding India and concerning
medicine. These seemed to be subjects of great interest to them. They
also questioned me as to whether I had heard that a young sahib had
crossed over the frontier with a large army, which the Jong Pen of
Taklakot had defeated, beheading the sahib and the principal members of
the expedition.

I professed to be ignorant of these facts, and so I really was, though I
naturally felt much amused at the casual way in which the Jong Pen of
Taklakot had disposed of the bearskin before he had even caught the bear
himself. The Lamas took me for a Hindoo doctor, owing