n be productive of enjoyment;
and yet, when one of us had the good fortune to discover,
hidden among the grass, an argol remarkable for its size and
siccity, he felt at his heart a thrill of pleasure, a sudden
emotion, that gave a moment's happiness. The delight caused by
the discovery of a fine argol may be compared to that of a
sportsman finding the trace of his game--of a child
contemplating the long sought for bird's nest--of an angler,
who sees a fish quivering at the end of his line; or, if we may
be allowed to liken great things to small, we would compare it
to the enthusiasm of a Leverrier finding a planet at the tip of
his pen.

We are not at liberty, unfortunately, to dwell as we would on these
details of Tartar life, however humorously related, for we must reserve
space for those descriptions of Buddhistic customs in which the chief
interest of these volumes consists. It suffices to say that, during the
eighteen months of incredible fatigue and privations, which elapsed
before the travellers reached Lha-Ssa, their courage never flagged, nor
did their good-humored and hopeful resignation ever forsake them. Every
morning the tent was struck, and the encampment of the previous night,
however well situated, abandoned without regret. Indeed, as long as the
missionaries remained in the plains of Mongolia, surrounded by friendly
tribes, they seem, to a certain degree, to have enjoyed this roving
life. On one occasion, after an unusually protracted stay of two days,
M. Huc writes:

We quitted this encampment without regret, as we had left the
others, with this difference, that in the spot where we had
spread our tent, there was a greater quantity of ashes than
usual, and that the surrounding grass was more trodden down.

This is the true spirit for Tartar travelling, which it is not given to
every one to possess in the same degree. In the choice of their
attendant, too, the missionaries appear to have been fortunate. "On the
countenance of Samdadchiemba," says M. Huc, "one could not trace the sly
cunning of the Chinese, nor the good-natured frankness of the Tartar,
nor the courageous energy of the native of Thibet, but there was a
mixture of all three. He was a Dchiahour." His countenance appears to
have been a faithful index to his character. Such as he was,
Samdadchiemba is what would be termed, in a work of fiction, an
excellent charact