rning, at daybreak, we proceeded on our journey. The country
through which we passed is occupied here by the Si-Fan, who lead a nomad
life, and merely use the land as pasturage for their cattle,--whereas the
Chinese, as in Eastern Tartary, are gradually encroaching upon the
desert, building houses, and bringing into cultivation portions of the
Land of Grass. Our brief voyage presented nothing remarkable, except,
indeed, that in crossing a small river upon the ice, the car turned over
and went to pieces. In France, in order to continue our journey, we
should have needed a wheelwright and a smith to repair the damage; but
fortunately our Phaeton was a Chinese, that is to say, a man who is never
at a loss; and, accordingly, with a large stone, some bits of stick, and
some ends of rope, he soon put everything to rights, and we merely lost a
little time.

At the distance of a li from the Lamasery we found four Lamas, friends of
Sandara, who had come to meet us. Their religious costume, the red scarf
that enveloped them, their mitre-shaped yellow caps, their modest mien,
the low, grave tones of their voices, all this produced a marked
impression upon us, and we felt as though a perfume of religious and
cenobitic life was diffused around us. It was past nine in the evening
when we reached the first [Picture: Accident on the Ice] dwellings of the
Lamasery. To avoid disturbing the profound silence which reigned
everywhere about, the Lamas made the carman stop, and filled with straw
the interior of the bells which hung from the horses' necks. We then
advanced slowly, and without saying a word, along the calm deserted
streets of this great Lamanesque city. The moon was not present; but the
sky was so clear, so pure, and the stars were so brilliant, that we could
perfectly distinguish the cottages of the Lamas spread over the sides of
the mountain, and the grand, though fantastic outlines of the Buddhist
temples, standing out in the air like gigantic phantoms. That which most
struck us at the moment, was the majestic and solemn silence which
prevailed throughout the Lamasery, and which was interrupted only by the
short sleepy bark of some half-wakened dog, like the scream of the
sea-eagle, or the melancholy sound of a marine shell marking, at
intervals, the watches of the night. We at length reached Sandara's
cottage. As it was too late for us to seek a suitable lodging, our
teacher gave us up his own habitation, and hims