he God of the Christians, and ever to have full trust
in his infinite mercy. Oh, how cruel was that moment, when we were
obliged to part from these well-beloved Catechumens, to whom we had as
yet only pointed out the path of eternal salvation without being able to
guide their first steps! Alas! we could do nothing further for them,
except to implore Divine Providence to have compassion on these souls
redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

As we were remounting, we saw a horseman advancing towards us at full
gallop. It was the governor of the Cashmerians, who had resolved to
accompany us as far as the river Bo-Tchou. We were extremely touched by
so friendly an attention, which, however, did not surprise us at all on
the part of a sincere and devoted friend, who had given us repeated
proofs of his attachment during our stay at Lha-Ssa.

The arrival of the governor of the Cashmerians occasioned us to ride on
slowly, for we had much to say. At length, after an hour's march, we
reached the borders of the Bo-Tchou. We found there a Thibetian escort,
which the Regent had ordered to conduct us to the frontiers of China; it
was composed of seven men and a Grand Lama, bearing the title of _Dheba_
(governor of a district). With the Chinese escort, we formed a caravan
of twenty-six horsemen, without counting the drivers of a large herd of
oxen that carried our baggage.

Two large ferry-boats were ready to receive the horsemen and the horses;
the latter jumped in at a single bound, and drew up in a line, one beside
the other. It was easy to see this was not the first time they had
performed this manoeuvre. The men then entered, with the exception of
the Dheba, Ly-Kouo-Ngan, and ourselves. We saw that they were going to
convey us across the river in a rather more aristocratic manner; we
looked in every direction, but saw no means of transit. "How, then, are
we to go over?" "Look below there," they replied, "see the boat coming."
We turned our eyes in the direction indicated, and we perceived, in fact,
a boat and a man coming across the fields, but, contrary to the usual
practice, it was the boat that was carried by the man, and not the man by
the boat. This boatman, running with his back laden with a large boat,
was a thing monstrous to behold. As soon as he reached the river side,
he quietly set down his load, and pushed the boat into the water without
the least effort. It was clearly one thing or the other: either