l things, alike without beginning and without end. In Dchagar
(India) he bears the name of Buddha, in Thibet, that of Samtche Mitcheba
(all Powerful Eternal); the Dcha-Mi (Chinese) call him Fo, and the
Sok-Po-Mi (Tartars), Borhan." "You say that Buddha is sole; in that
case, who are the Tale-Lama of Lha-Ssa, the Bandchan of Djachi-Loumbo,
the Tsong-Kaba of the Sifan, the Kaldan of Tolon-Noor, the Guison-Tamba
of the Great Kouren, the Hobilgan of Blue Town, the Hotoktou of Peking,
the Chaberon of the Tartar and Thibetian Lamaseries generally?" "They
are all equally Buddha." "Is Buddha visible?" "No, he is without a
body; he is a spiritual substance." "So, Buddha is sole, and yet there
exist innumerable Buddhas; the Tale-Lama, and so on. Buddha is
incorporeal; he cannot be seen, and yet the Tale-Lama, the Guison-Tamba,
and the rest are visible, and have bodies like our own. How do you
explain all this?" "The doctrine, I tell you, is true," said the Lama,
raising his arm, and assuming a remarkable accent of authority; "it is
the doctrine of the West, but it is of unfathomable profundity. It
cannot be sounded to the bottom."

These words of the Thibetian Lama astonished us strangely; the Unity of
God, the mystery of the Incarnation, the dogma of the Real Presence
seemed to us enveloped in his creed; yet with ideas so sound in
appearance, he admitted the metempsychosis, and a sort of pantheism of
which he could give no account.

These new indications respecting the religion of Buddha gave us hopes
that we should really find among the Lamas of Thibet symbolism more
refined and superior to the common belief, and confirmed us in the
resolution we had adopted, of keeping on our course westward.

Previous to quitting the inn we called in the landlord, to settle our
bill. We had calculated that the entertainment, during four days, of
three men and our animals, would cost us at least two ounces of silver;
we were therefore agreeably surprised to hear the landlord say, "Sirs
Lamas, there is no occasion for going into any accounts; put 300 sapeks
into the till, and that will do very well. My house," he added, "is
recently established, and I want to give it a good character. You are
come from a distant land, and I would enable you to say to your
countrymen that my establishment is worthy of their confidence." We
replied that we would everywhere mention his disinterestedness; and that
our countrymen, whenever they had o