reation with a Magnifying Glass--Conversations with
Ki-Chan--Religious character of the Thibetians--Celebrated formula of the
Buddhists--Buddhist Pantheism--Election of the Tale-Lama--The Small-pox
at Lha-Ssa--Sepultures in use among the Thibetians.

As soon as we had presented ourselves to the Thibetian authorities,
declaring our characters and the object which had brought us to Lha-Ssa,
we availed ourselves of the semi-official position we had thus taken, to
enter into communication with the Thibetian and Tartar Lamas, and thus,
at last, to begin our work as missionaries. One day, when we were
sitting beside our modest hearth, talking of religious questions with a
Lama who was well versed in Buddhist learning, a Chinese dressed in
exquisite style suddenly appeared before us, saying that he was a
merchant and very desirous of buying our goods. We told him we had
nothing to sell. "How, nothing to sell?" "Not anything, except indeed
those two old saddles, which we do not want any longer." "Ah, exactly;
that is just what I am looking for; I want saddles." Then, while he
examined our poor merchandise, he addressed to us a thousand questions
about our country and the places we had visited before we came to
Lha-Ssa. Shortly afterwards there arrives a second Chinese, then a
third, and at last two Lamas, in costly silk scarves. All these visitors
insisted upon buying something from us; they overwhelmed us with
questions, and seemed, at the same time, to scrutinise with distrust all
the corners of our chamber.

We might say, as often as we liked, that we were not merchants--they
insisted. In default of silk, drapery, or hardware, they would like our
saddles; they turned them round and round in every way, finding them now
perfectly magnificent, now abominable. At last, after long haggling and
cross-questioning, they went off, promising to return.

The visit of these five individuals occasioned much serious reflection;
their manner of acting and speaking was not at all natural. Although
they came one after the other, yet they seemed perfectly to understand
each other, and to aim at the same end by the same means. Their desire
of buying something from us was evidently a mere pretext for disguising
their intentions: these people were rather swindlers or spies, than real
merchants. "Well," we said, "let us wait quietly; sooner or later we
shall see clearly into this affair."

As it was dinner time, we sat down to tab