82 MASSES FOR THE BEAD. 



at length themselves believe in their own super- 

 natural powers. 



The Mongols expose the bodies of their dead to 

 be devoured by birds and beasts of prey, th^ir lamas 

 deciding in which direction the head should lie. 

 Princes, glgens, and lamas of importance are interred 

 or burnt after death. Masses are said for the de- 

 parted for forty days on payment of a sum of money. 

 The poor who cannot afford to pay are deprived of 

 this honour, but the rich distribute cattle among 

 the different temples where masses are said for 

 their deceased relatives for the space of two or 

 three years. 



A Mongol, who might claim, apart from inevit- 

 able defects in intelligence and morality, to be called 

 a good and religious man, will show himself to be a 

 true barbarian in giving vent to his passions. It 

 is only necessary to see the savage way in which 

 they behave to the Dungans. The very man who 

 would scruple to kill a lamb, because he con- 

 sidered it wrong, will cut off the head of his 

 prisoner with the utmost sangfroid. Neither sex 

 nor age is respected ; the captives are slaugh- 

 tered indiscriminately. The Dungans certainly re- 

 taliate in like manner ; but I only mention this to 

 prove how powerless is religion alone, without other 

 civilising influences, to soften and transform the bar- 

 barous instincts of a nation. Buddhism inculcates 

 principles of lofty morality, but it has not taught the 

 Mongol to look upon every man as his brother and 

 respect even an enemy. 



