SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 



into position for the coming ceremony. Presently 

 some little boys, dressed up as living skeletons and 

 ferocious demons, appeared upon the scene, and 

 with long canes began to drive out the Chinese 

 and lay ^Mongols. 



Leaving the hall, we took up our stand upon a 

 side verandah, and prepared to take snapshots 

 of the proceedings. Presently the great twenty- 

 foot trumpets began to blare out their mournful 

 dirges, to the accompanying boom of colossal 

 drums. A long, low wail rose from the lamas, 

 sitting upon little mats in long rows between the 

 great red pillars of the prayer hall. Every now 

 and then the wail would rise into a mighty 

 volume of sound, while trumpets, smaller than the 

 great roaring instruments on the balcony above, 

 would add their clarion notes to the swelling chorus 

 of wild music. Then again all sound would gradu- 

 ally die away to a dull drone, like that of a hive 

 of bees on a summer's day, only to rise once more 

 till the great hall would ring again. All this 

 while the little skeletons and demons were flitting 

 about amongst the gay crowds, striving vainly 

 to keep order, while ever and anon a fat priest 

 would sally forth and take a look at the rapidly 

 darkening sky. 



Soon the rain began to fall, at first a gentle 

 sprinkle, then a steady shower, which finally 

 developed into a tropical deluge. As if by magic 

 the great courts were cleared of the yellow and 



154 



