two of horoscope,
which perhaps would have procured for us, in return, a good cup of tea
with butter."

The stolen horses confirmed in our minds the ill reputation of the
country in which we were now encamped; and we felt ourselves necessitated
to take additional precaution. Before night-fall we brought in the horse
and the mule, and fastened them by cords to pins at the door of our tent,
and made the camels kneel by their side, so as to close up the entrance.
By this arrangement no one could get near us without our having full
warning given us by the camels, which, at the least noise, always make an
outcry loud enough to awaken the deepest sleeper. Finally, having
suspended from one of the tent-poles our travelling lantern, which we
kept burning all the night, we endeavoured to obtain a little repose, but
in vain; the night passed away, without our getting a wink of sleep. As
to the _Dchiahour_, whom nothing ever troubled, we heard him snoring with
all the might of his lungs until daybreak.

We made our preparations for departure very early, for we were eager to
quit this ill-famed place, and to reach _Tolon-Noor_, which was now
distant only a few leagues.

On our way thither, a horseman stopped his galloping steed, and, after
looking at us for a moment, addressed us: "You are the chiefs of the
Christians of the Contiguous Defiles?" Upon our replying in the
affirmative, he dashed off again; but turned his head once or twice, to
have another look at us. He was a Mongol, who had charge of some herds
at the Contiguous Defiles. He had often seen us there; but the novelty
of our present costume at first prevented his recognising us. We met
also the Tartars who, the day before, had asked us to draw a horoscope
for them. They had repaired by daybreak, to the horse-fair at
_Tolon-Noor_, in the hope of finding their stolen animals; but their
search had been unsuccessful.

The increasing number of travellers, Tartars and Chinese, whom we now
met, indicated the approach to the great town of _Tolon-Noor_. We
already saw in the distance, glittering under the sun's rays, the gilt
roofs of two magnificent Lamaseries that stand in the northern suburbs of
the town. We journeyed for some time through a succession of cemeteries;
for here, as elsewhere, the present generation is surrounded by the
ornamental sepulchres of past generations. As we observed the numerous
population of that large town, environed as it were by a