cate itself, special solemn services begin in the Tibetan
temples together with the telling of fortunes by astrology. These rites
indicate the specially pious Lamas who must discover where the Spirit
of the Buddha will be re-incarnated. For this purpose they travel
throughout the whole land and observe. Often God himself gives them
signs and indications. Sometimes the white wolf appears near the yurta
of a poor shepherd or a lamb with two heads is born or a meteor falls
from the sky. Some Lamas take fish from the sacred lake Tangri Nor and
read on the scales thereof the name of the new Bogdo Khan; others pick
out stones whose cracks indicate to them where they must search and
whom they must find; while others secrete themselves in narrow mountain
ravines to listen to the voices of the spirits of the mountains,
pronouncing the name of the new choice of the Gods. When he is found,
all the possible information about his family is secretly collected and
presented to the Most Learned Tashi Lama, having the name of Erdeni,
"The Great Gem of Learning," who, according to the runes of Rama,
verifies the selection. If he is in agreement with it, he sends a secret
letter to the Dalai Lama, who holds a special sacrifice in the Temple of
the 'Spirit of the Mountains' and confirms the election by putting his
great seal on this letter of the Tashi Lama.

"If the old Living Buddha be still alive, the name of his successor is
kept a deep secret; if the Spirit of Buddha has already gone out from
the body of Bogdo Khan, a special legation appears from Tibet with the
new Living Buddha. The same process accompanies the election of the
Gheghen and Hutuktus in all the Lamaite monasteries in Mongolia; but
confirmation of the election resides with the Living Buddha and is only
announced to Lhasa after the event."

CHAPTER XLIV

A PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE PRESENT LIVING BUDDHA

The present Bogdo Khan of Outer Mongolia is a Tibetan. He sprang from a
poor family living in the neighborhood of Sakkia Kure in western Tibet.
From earliest youth he had a stormy, quite unaesthetic nature. He was
fired with the idea of the independence and glorification of Mongolia
and the successors of Jenghiz Khan. This gave him at once a great
influence among the Lamas, Princes and Khans of Mongolia and also with
the Russian Government which always tried to attract him to their side.
He did not fear to arraign himself against the Manchu dynasty in China
and