i66 LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF MUNNI-ULA 



appear, ordering it to overturn the capital of his sove- 

 reign. Whereupon the Emperor in his fright set 

 the Kutukhtu at Hberty, and the latter countermanded 

 his order to the bird, which had only time to raise 

 one end of the city, accounting for the slightly in- 

 clined plane on which Peking is situated at the 

 present day. 



The miracle-working saint then resolved to quit 

 the inhospitable city and settle in Tibet. Setting 

 out on his journey, he arrived safely on the banks of 

 the Hoang-ho ; but the Chinese here refused to ferry 

 him across to the other side : his wrath was now 

 rekindled, and he determined to revenge himself in 

 good earnest this time. He forthwith started for 

 Northern Mongolia and selected a large chain of 

 mountains from the Altai range, which he fastened 

 to his stirrups and dragged behind him on horseback 

 to the bank of the Hoang-ho, intending to throw 

 them into the river and by damming its current to 

 inundate the surrounding country. Buddha now 

 appeared in person to protect the unfortunate inha- 

 bitants, and entreated the Kutukhtu to abate his 

 anger and show mercy to the innocent. The saint 

 obeyed the voice of the god, and left the mountains 

 on the bank of the river as a monument of his might ; 

 he then unfastened h:s belt and flung it across the 

 Hoang-ho to serve as a bridge, over which he 

 passed to the opposite bank and continued his jour- 

 ney to Tibet. 



In depositing the Munni-ula on the banks of the 

 Hoang-ho the Kutukhtu reversed its position ; con- 



