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'But later, I was cramped and desired to walk, as I am used. 'And thou art sure of thy road? said the Curator. 'Oh, for that one but asks a question and pays money, and the appointed persons despatch all to the appointed place. That much I knew in my lamassery from sure report, said the lama proudly.
'All women are thus. Kim spoke as might have Solomon. 'Before the lamassery was a broad platform, the lama muttered, looping up the well-worn rosary, 'of stone. On that I have left the marks of my feet pacing to and fro with these. He clicked the beads, and began the 'Om mane pudme hum's of his devotion; grateful for the cool, the quiet, and the absence of dust.
The great mountain had again come in sight, crouching like a huge beast of prey along the boulder-strewn plain. But where was the famous lamassery that lay at its foot? Threading our way through a wilderness of rock, heaped up in sharp confusion, we came out on a little ridge, and there before us lay Tuerin, not a house but a village, built in and out among the rocks.
The lama, haltingly at first, spoke to the Curator of his own lamassery, the Such-zen, opposite the Painted Rocks, four months' march away. The Curator brought out a huge book of photos and showed him that very place, perched on its crag, overlooking the gigantic valley of many-hued strata. 'Ay, ay! The lama mounted a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles of Chinese work.
Lamaism has Tachienlu in its grip, and I could have fancied myself back in Himis lamassery, thousands of miles away on the western frontier of Tibet. It was an extraordinarily picturesque scene, full of life and sound and colour.
The weather, too, had changed; the days were hotter and dryer, but the nights were cool and refreshing always. For eleven days we saw no houses but the two telegraph stations, save once early in the morning when we came without warning upon a lamassery that seemed to start up out of the ground; the open desert hides as well as reveals.
And well within these is the most sacred spot of all, the lamassery where dwells enthroned Bogdo or the Gigin, the Living Buddha ranking after the Dalai Lama and the Tashi Lama only. To Bogdo the Mongol millions look up as a god; he is the living representative of the divine one; and the city where he lives is the goal of thousands of pilgrims each year.
I sent gifts and monies and gifts again to them, and they prophesied. 'Ah, drawled Kim, with infinite contempt, 'they prophesied! A professional could have done no better. 'And it was not till I remembered my own Gods that my prayers were heard. I chose an auspicious hour, and perhaps thy Holy One has heard of the Abbot of the Lung-Cho lamassery.
It was a piece of ancient design, Chinese, of an iron that is not smelted these days; and the collector's heart in the Curator's bosom had gone out to it from the first. For no persuasion would the lama resume his gift. 'When I return, having found the River, I will bring thee a written picture of the Padma Samthora such as I used to make on silk at the lamassery.
Politics sordid and gruesome are active within the gaily decorated walls of the sacred lamassery. But all that the outsider sees is a weak, debased-looking man whose vices should soon end his days even if he escapes the lamas' villainy. Formerly he amused himself with Western toys, photography, and especially motor-cars.
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