THE TEMPLE OF KUM-BUM 1185 
jecting and up-curving corners, and walls cased with 
glittering plates of gold. Immediately in front of the 
entrance, and protected by a wooden fence, stood a now 
leafless tree, with five stems. This was said every spring 
to put forth leaves upon which the holy words “ On maneh 
padmeh hum ” grow of themselves. The leaves are sold 
to pilgrims. At the time of my visit there was unfortu- 
nately not one left. Father Hue states, that it is from 
these inscribed leaves that the temple derives its name. 
The tree I saw can hardly have been the same tree that 
traveller described : it seemed to me not to be old enough, 
and was growing in a different place from the tree Father 
Hue saw. As regards the inscribed signs or letters 
Father Hue writes, — “We examined the leaves with very 
careful and exact attention, and were in the highest degree 
surprised and amazed to perceive that each separate leaf 
did bear the Tibetan letters of prayer, and extremely well- 
formed too. The letters are always green, sometimes 
darker, sometimes lighter, than the leaf itself. ... It 
appeared to us as though the letters belonged to the leaf 
as essentially as its fibres. ... We took all the pains we 
could to discover any deceit that might be practised, 
but without success. The occurrence was every way 
perfectly natural.” Father Hue is a credible writer; in 
this case he seems to have been credulous. I myself 
did not see a specimen of this marvellous nature-writing. 
When I asked Loppsen if he could account for the 
lettering on the leaves, he replied, that the lamas them- 
selves printed them. Loppsen was a shrewd fellow. 
Along the faqade of the temple ran a verandah, its roof 
supported by six wooden pillars, all sculptured and painted 
in a way calculated to catch the eye. Some of the planks 
of the flooring were hollowed into narrow grooves, deep 
and long. These owed their origin to the worshipping 
Tanguts and lamas. When they throw themselves prone 
upon the ground in the act of worship, they let both hands 
slide along the floor in front of them, till they lie at full 
length, their forehead touching the ground. After lying 
in that position for a moment or so, they sit up on their 
