is there is a dark and narrow
passage which pilgrims circumambulate. The floor and walls are as
slippery as ice, worn by centuries of pious feet and groping hands. One
old woman in some urgent need is drifting round and round abstractedly.

Elsewhere one might linger in the place fascinated, but here in Lhasa
one moves among mysteries casually; for one cannot wonder, in this
isolated land where the elements are so aggressive, among these deserts
and wildernesses, heaped mountain chains, and impenetrable barriers of
snow, that the children of the soil believe that earth, air, and water
are peopled by demons who are struggling passionately over the destinies
of man.

I will not describe any more of the Lhasa temples. One shrine is very
like another, and details would be tedious. Personally, I do not care
for systematic sightseeing, even in Lhasa, but prefer to loiter about
the streets and bazaars, and the gardens outside the city, watch the
people, and enjoy the atmosphere of the place. The religion of Tibet is
picturesque enough in an unwholesome way, but to inquire how the layers
of superstition became added to the true faith, and trace the growth of
these spurious accretions, I leave to archaeologists. Perhaps one reader
in a hundred will be interested to know that a temple was built by the
illustrious Konjo, daughter of the Emperor Tai-Tsung and wife of King
Srong-btsan-gombo, but I think the other ninety and nine will be
devoutly thankful if I omit to mention it.

Yet one cannot leave the subject of the Lhasa monasteries without
remarking on the striking resemblance between Tibetan Lamaism and the
Romish Church. The resemblance cannot be accidental. The burning of
candles before altars, the sprinkling of holy water, the chanting of
hymns in alternation, the giving alms and saying Masses for the dead,
must have their origin in the West. We know that for many centuries
large Christian communities have existed in Western China near the
Tibetan frontier, and several Roman Catholic missionaries have
penetrated to Lhasa and other parts of Tibet during the last three
centuries. As early as 1641 the Jesuit Father Grueber visited Lhasa, and
recorded that the Lamas wore caps and mitres, that they used rosaries,
bells, and censers, and observed the practice of confession, penance,
and absolution. Besides these points common to Roman Catholicism, he
noticed the monastic and conventual system, the tonsure, the vows of
poverty,