rms
with loud vociferations. They caught up whatever in the shape of a
weapon first came to hand, and dashed off, confusedly, towards the
Lamasery of Tchogortan. But they arrived there too late; the brigands
had disappeared, carrying off all the flocks and herds of the Si-Fan, and
leaving behind them in the valley nothing but smoking ruins.

The shepherds who, since this event, had returned and set up their tents
amidst the pasturages of Tchogortan, were always on the watch, fearful of
a new aggression. From time to time some of them, armed with lances and
guns, would patrol the neighbourhood; a precaution which, though it would
certainly have by no means intimidated the brigands, had at least the
advantage of communicating a certain degree of fancied security to the
population.

Towards the end of August, while we were quietly occupied in the
manufacture of our ropes, sinister rumours began to circulate; by degrees
they assumed all the character of certain intelligence [Picture: The
Pyramid of Peace] and no doubt was entertained that we were threatened
with a new and terrible invasion of brigands. Every day we were alarmed
with some fresh fact of a formidable nature. The shepherds of such a
place had been surprised, their tents burned, and their flocks driven
off. Elsewhere there had been a tremendous battle, in which a number of
persons had been killed. These rumours became so substantially alarming,
that the administrators of the Lamasery felt bound to adopt some measures
on the subject. They dispatched to Tchogortan a Grand Lama and twenty
students of the Faculty of Prayers, charged with the task of preserving
the locality from any unpleasant occurrence. On their arrival, these
Lamas convoked the chiefs of the Si-Fan families, and announced that now
they were come, the people had nothing to fear. Next morning, they all
ascended the highest mountain in the neighbourhood, set up some
travelling tents there, and proceeded to recite prayers to the
accompaniment of music. They remained in this encampment two whole days,
which they occupied in praying, in exorcising, and in constructing a
small pyramid of earth, whitened with lime, and above which floated, at
the end of a mast, a flag on which were printed various Thibetian
prayers. This modest edifice was entitled the Pyramid of Peace. These
ceremonies completed, the Lamas, great and small, folded their tents,
descended from the mountain, and quietly return