oral
power of the Tale-Lama.

The violent death of the three Tale-Lamas, the immediate predecessors of
the reigning sovereign, gave rise, in the year 1844, to an event which
occupied the attention of all Thibet, Tartary, and even China, and which,
on account of its importance, deserves, perhaps, a brief notice here.
The unprecedented phenomenon of three Tale-Lamas dying successively in
the flower of their age, had plunged the inhabitants of Lha-Ssa into a
state of mournful consternation. Gradually, dark rumours began to
circulate, and soon the words "crime," "assassination," were heard. The
thing went so far that they related in the streets of the town and the
Lamaseries all the circumstances of these dismal events. It was said
that the first Tale-Lama had been strangled, the second crushed by the
roof of his sleeping apartment, and the third poisoned with his numerous
relations, who had come to settle at Lha-Ssa. The superior Lama of the
Grand Lamasery of Kaldan, who was very much attached to the Tale-Lama,
had suffered the same fate. The public voice denounced the Nomekhan as
the author of all these crimes. The four ministers had no doubt about
the matter, knowing the whole truth; but they found themselves unable to
avenge the death of their sovereign; they were too weak to struggle with
the Nomekhan, who was supported by numerous and powerful friends.

This Nomekhan was a Si-Fan, a native of the principality of Yang-Tou-Sse,
in the province of Kan-Sou. The supreme dignity of Tou-Sse was
hereditary in his family, and a great number of his relations, settled at
Lha-Ssa for several generations, exercised great influence over the
affairs of Thibet. The Nomekhan of Yang-Tou-Sse was still very young
when he was invested with an authority inferior only to that of the
Tale-Lama. They say that a few years after his elevation to power, he
manifested his ambitious sentiments and a boundless desire for
domination. He used his own great wealth and the influence of his
relations, to surround himself with dependents wholly devoted to his
interest. He took particular care to secure partisans among the Lamas;
and, to this end, he took under his immediate protection the famous
Lamasery of Sera, situated half a league from Lha-Ssa, and containing
upwards of 15,000 Buddhist monks. He loaded it with presents, granted it
infinite privileges and revenues, and placed, in its different
departments, a great number of his creature