276 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



peculiar aspect to a face which was otherwise so similar 

 in type to our own. 



I offered the Living Buddha a khata, in accordance 

 with the curious ceremonial prescribed. This immense 

 scarf, some ten feet in length, had been previously 

 rolled up from either end towards the centre, thus 

 forming two parallel rolls, which I held upon my hands, 

 the latter being pressed together. At a slight move- 

 ment of the fingers the two rolls fell downwards, 

 unrolling and suddenly displaying, their brilliance. 

 The Dalai-Lama immediately responded to this offering 

 by that of a similar scarf. 



My presents were then laid before him, and in return 

 he offered me ten pieces of the precious red cloth 

 of Tibet and ten bundles of sticks of the famous 

 Tibetan incense. 



The Dalai-Lama is supposed to know all languages 

 without having learned them ; however, as my inter- 

 preter ironically remarked, it apparently pleases him to 

 conceal the knowledge, which does not make inter- 

 course easy. I spoke in French ; my interpreter trans- 

 lated my words into Chinese ; a lama repeated them 

 in Mongolian ; and another, bowing before the man- 

 god, transmitted my words to him. He replied in a 

 low voice ; then the same series of translations brought 

 me his august reply. It was truly a miraculous thing, 

 but the replies very nearly corresponded to the ques- 

 tions, and it was not absolutely certain that we did 

 not understand one another. 



He questioned me as to my travels in Tibet, and 

 expressed his regrets at the barbarity of the nomads, 

 who refused to obey him, and also his sorrow at learning 

 of the murder of the missionaries. He reminded me 



