lours, which are, so to speak,
sacred in their eyes, that they especially name them Lamanesque colours.
The people of Lha-Ssa are in the habit of painting their houses once a
year, so that they are always perfectly clean, and seem, in fact, just
built; but the interior is by no means in harmony with the fine outside.
The rooms are dirty, smoky, stinking, and encumbered with all sorts of
utensils and furniture, thrown about in most disgusting confusion. In a
word, the Thibetian habitations are literally whited sepulchres; a
perfect picture of Buddhism and all other false religions, which
carefully cover, with certain general truths and certain moral
principles, the corruption and falsehood within.

After a long search, we selected two rooms, in a large house, that
contained in all fifty lodgers. Our humble abode was at the top of the
house, and to reach it we had to ascend twenty-six wooden stairs, without
railing, and so steep and narrow that in order to prevent the
disagreeable incident of breaking our necks, we always found it prudent
to use our hands as well as our feet. Our suite of apartments consisted
of one great square room and one small closet, which we honoured with the
appellation of cabinet. The larger room was lighted, north-east, by a
narrow window, provided with three thick wooden bars, and above, by a
small round skylight, which latter aperture served for a variety of
purposes; first it gave entrance to the light, the wind, the rain, and
the snow: and secondly, it gave issue to the smoke from our fire. To
protect themselves from the winter's cold, the Thibetians place in the
centre of their rooms a small vessel of glazed earth, in which they burn
argols. As this combustible is extremely addicted to diffuse
considerably more smoke than heat, those who desire to warm themselves,
find it of infinite advantage to have a hole in the ceiling, which
enables them to light a fire without incurring the risk of being stifled
by the smoke. You do, indeed, undergo the small inconvenience of
receiving, from time to time, a fall of snow, or rain, on your back; but
those who have followed the nomadic life are not deterred by such
trifles. The furniture of our larger apartment consisted of two
goat-skins spread on the floor, right and left of the fire dish; of two
saddles, our travelling tent, some old pairs of boots, two dilapidated
trunks, three ragged robes, hanging from nails in the wall, our night
things rol