rose a great contest between the Houtouktou of Tsiamdo and
the Tchaktchouba of Djaya. The latter, a young, bold, and enterprising
Lama, had declared himself Houtouktou, in virtue of an old diploma, which
he affirmed had been granted to him, in one of his former lives, by the
Tale-Lama. He asserted, accordingly, his rights to supremacy, and
claimed the see of Tsiamdo and the government of the province of Kham.
The Houtouktou of Tsiamdo, a Lama advanced in years, did not choose to
resign his authority, and, on his side, alleged authentic titles, sent by
the court of Peking, and confirmed by the Grand Lama of Lha-Ssa. All the
tribes, and all the Lamaseries of the province, entered into this
quarrel, and took part, some with the young Lama, some with the old.
After long and futile discussions, written and verbal, they resorted to
arms, and for a full year these wild and fanatic tribes were engaged in
bloody conflicts. Whole villages were destroyed, and their inhabitants
cut in pieces. In their terrible fury, these ferocious combatants
devastated everything; they pursued into the desert, with arrows and
fusils, the herds of goats and long-haired oxen, and in their destructive
course, set fire to the forests they found on their way.

When we arrived at Tsiamdo, the war had ceased some days, and all parties
had consented to a truce, in hopes of effecting a reconciliation.
Thibetian and Chinese negotiators had been sent by the Tale-Lama and the
ambassador Ki-Chan conjointly. The youthful Houtouktou of Djaya had been
summoned to this congress, and fearful of treachery, he had come with a
formidable escort of his bravest partisans. Several conferences had been
held without producing any satisfactory result. Neither the one nor the
other of the two pretenders would withdraw his claims; the parties were
irreconcilable, and everything presaged that the war would be soon
resumed with fresh fury. It appeared to us that the party of the young
Houtouktou had every chance of success, because it was the most national,
and consequently the most popular and strongest. Not that his title was
really better founded or more valid than that of his competitor, but it
was easy to see that the old Houtouktou of Tsiamdo had hurt the pride of
his tribes by invoking the arbitration of the Chinese, and relying upon
the aid of the government of Peking. All foreign intervention is odious
and detestable. This is truth, alike in Europe and in the