in, but also from the peculiar manner in which the
writer judges them. Not the least amusing feature in the case is, that
we find him continually noting as absurd Buddhistic abuses many customs
which are common to his own Church. On the very outset of their journey,
the missionaries took advantage of their stay at Tolon-Noor, a town
famous for its foundries, to have a large crucifix cast. M. Huc mentions
that the large statues of Buddha almost all come from thence, but these
he calls idols, whereas the crucifix was an image. The pilgrimages,
genuflexions, and vows of the Buddhist devotees surprise him, as though
there were no steps at Rome worn bare by thousands of knees--no shrines
in France visited by bare-footed pilgrims--no children dressed in white
from their birth to please the Virgin Mary! In one description of a Lama
seminary, he remarks that the canonical books of Buddhism being all
written in the language of Thibet, the Lamas of Mongolia pass their
lives in studying their religion in a foreign idiom, while they scarcely
know their own language. Let us see what improvement the introduction of
Catholicism would effect, in this state of things. We open a recent
work[16] on French missions in Cochin-China and Corea; and in a
description of the Catholic seminary of Pulo-Ticoux, near Pinang, we
read: "Both teachers and pupils speak only Latin in their class--not the
barbarous Latin of our schools, but a pure, harmonious tongue, such as I
never heard spoken before. With the exception of a few elementary
notions of geography, modern history, and arithmetic, the children
receive an exclusively religious education." There is one invention,
however, in which Buddhism has no rival, and which throws the Roman
Catholic idea of praying by proxy quite into shade. We never heard of a
prayer-mill before. A piece of pasteboard, of a cylindrical form, is
covered with prayers of the most approved sort; once set in motion, this
machine will turn for a long while, and so long as it does turn, the
prayers inscribed on it are placed to the credit of the person who first
set it going. Sometimes these mills are set up in a stream, and pray
everlastingly for their founders.

We must now hurry on to Lha-Ssa, foregoing many tempting pictures of
Chinese life which occur by the way, for our travellers were obliged to
pass on Chinese territory before reaching their destination. A Chinese
landlord is a curious character, as curious often as the