under the tent, and whose mode of life differs little from that of the
other members of their family; the travelling Lamas--a migratory kind of
animals--who, with staff in hand, and wallet at their backs, wander from
place to place, trusting to Tartar hospitality for their maintenance;
and lastly, the Lamas who live in communities, or convents, and devote
themselves more especially to study and prayer. Most of the Lama-houses
enjoy large revenues, the result of imperial foundations, or the
liberality of native princes. These are distributed at certain periods
among the Lamas, according to their rank in the hierarchy. Some
religious communities, or aggregations of Lama-houses, such as that of
Grand Kouren, number 30,000 Lamas, and its head, the Guison-Tomba, is
powerful enough to give umbrage to the Chinese Emperor himself. But the
chief of the humblest Lama-house may be an important personage, if he
happen to be a Chaberon, that is to say, an incarnation of Buddha--one
whose death is but a transformation. The Buddhists firmly believe in
these transmigrations of their living Buddhas, and the ceremonies which
attend the election--we ought to say the recognition--of these undying
sovereigns, are curiously related by M. Huc.

When a Grand Lama takes his departure, that is to say when he
dies, the event is no subject for mourning to the community.
There is no giving way to tears or regrets, for every one is
convinced that the Chaberon will soon reappear. His apparent
death is only the beginning of a new existence--a link added to
an endless and uninterrupted chain of successive lives--a mere
palingenesia. So long as the saint remains in the chrysalis
state, his disciples are in the greatest anxiety, for their
great affair is to find out in what spot their master is to
resume his life. If a rainbow appears in the clouds, it is
considered as a token sent them by their former Grand Lama, to
aid them in their researches. Every one then falls to praying,
and while the community, thus bereaved of its Lama, redoubles
its feasts and orisons, a chosen band sets out to consult the
_Tchurtchun_, or soothsayer, versed in the knowledge of all
things hidden from ordinary men. He is informed that on such a
day of such a month, the rainbow of the Chaberon was seen in
the heavens; that it appeared in a certain direction; was more
or less luminous;