COUNTRY OF THE TANGUTS 1149 
The temple {kitt') of which Loppsen spoke was a large 
square house, with a flat roof and windows. This was 
the residence of the principal lama of the twenty-five septs 
of the Koko-nor Mongols, namely Khoduktouin-gaghen, 
himself a Mongol by race, who is said to have lived in 
Uulan-kitt in successive incarnations for a period of 6100 
years. As soon as the lama is sixty-one years old, he lies 
down and dies, but immediately re-enters life in the person 
of a little child, who becomes his successor. There are 
sixty-one lamas of the same rank in Mongolia, Kum-bum, 
and Tibet. 
After a march of sixteen miles we encamped im- 
mediately east of Tsagan-nor (the White Lake). The 
lake was wedged, as it were, into the mountain-side, 
in such a way that the granite cliffs jutted out in some 
places in rugged, weathered spurs, descending steeply 
into the water. By that the forest had dwindled almost 
entirely away. The last few trees were however so 
far up the mountain-side that we could not get at them. 
That evening therefore we had only a scanty supply of 
fuel. 
Loppsen came to me full of trouble. He had lost 
the pouch in which he carried his provisions, together 
with ten Hang (31^. 3^/.) in silver, with which he had 
intended buying a camel in Kum-bum. He had had 
the pouch under his head for a pillow the previous night, 
and no doubt it had been stolen by one of our worthy 
Tangut visitors whilst the men were getting the caravan 
ready to start. I promised Loppsen to make good his 
loss, if he would procure me some temple flags in Kum- 
bum. This he promised to do, and after that recovered 
his spirits. 
November 6th. During the night we again heard the 
unearthly howls from the valley and the neighbourhood. 
I fully made up my mind that the Tanguts intended to lie 
in wait for us in the pass at the end of the valley. The 
dogs barked madly, and the cries of our sentries echoed 
unceasingly among the tents. But I was tired and slept 
soundly through it all. In the morning I was told, it was 
