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. i 
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 
