374 THE pbbsident's addkess. 



they become accustomed to the condition, and in the end acquire 

 a certain religious exaltation which attaches them strongly to it." 

 The lamas are taken with but rare exceptions from the noble 

 class alone. Yet there also, the doors are open to runaway serfs, 

 who on entering the lamaserai become free, and belong 

 thenceforth to the Sacerdotal tribe. Hue says, "no dues, no 

 feudal obligations can be exacted of them thenceforth. They 

 may expatriate themselves and travel the world if they wiU, and 

 no one has the right to stay them. They are nevertheless 

 members of the Saintly clan." 



The Tibetian Lamaserais are Buddhist, but only so because 

 Buddhism has entered into and occupied an institution that 

 pre-existed in Tartary before Sakia Mouni was born. 



Yery similar again are the Merabuts of North Africa. A 

 recent writer thus describes those at Tripoli. He says — " so far 

 has this peculiar development of religion prevailed that it may 

 be said that at one time Tripoli was almost ruled by these 

 religious orders, and even yet they are distinctly a power, and 

 in such veneration are they held that it is by no means easy for 

 a Non-Moslem to obtain much information on the subject. It 

 appears, however, that the true Merabut is a member of a 

 religious guild. The members are bound, as the name implies, 

 to the strict observance of certain religious forms ; and 

 consequently, the fact of being a Merabut neither means a 

 fanatic, nor an impostor, nor a lunatic .... The fact appears to 

 be that the Merabuts are guilds of men who follow the teaching 

 or precept of some holy man ; so that although here and there 

 we find an individual who from some reason claims to be one on 

 his own merits, the majority are simply disciples or followers. 

 Accordingly the tombs of the originators of the guilds are 

 revered, and often by them spring up little sanctuaries or 

 'zawichs,' which their followers frequent." (H. S. Cowper : 

 The Hill of the Graces, Lond., 1897, p 23). 



This Merabut institution has now assumed a Moslem 

 character, but it did not originate with Mohamedanism, it is 

 vastly more ancient, and is a legacy of that primitive Ivernian or 

 Berber race which underlies all others in Northern Africa, as it 

 does in Wales. 



