MORE " WONDERFUL" CREATURES. 251 



fun to turn them over and over down the hills with 

 the iron ends of our staves. 



" We also met with worms of a very surprising 

 kind. One day, when it was very hot, we were 

 journeying along a little stream that meandered 

 through a valley in which the grass grew very 

 high. Towards noon, after drinking tea, we lay 

 down and slept on the edge of a stream. You 

 know that, according to the rule of Tsong Kabi, 

 the yellow-mitred lamas do not wear trousers. 

 When we woke up, we found a number of worms 

 sticking to our legs ; they were of a gray colour, 

 and as big as one's finger. We tried to get them 

 off, but could not ; and as we did not experience 

 any pain from them, we waited to see what would 

 be the end of the affair. By and by the beasts 

 swelled ; and when they had become quite round 

 and large, they dropped off themselves. Oh ! Thibet 

 is a strange country. You see animals there that 

 are found nowhere else." The reader will by this 

 time have discovered that these " wonderful ani- 

 mals" were no other than hedgehogs and leeches ! 



Before bidding farewell to the Lamasery of 

 Kounboum, we must not forget to mention its 

 name is composed of two Thibetian words, signify- 

 ing Ten Thousand Images, and having allusion to 

 the tree which, according to the legend, sprang 

 from the hair of Tsong-Kaba, the celebrated re- 



