THROUGH ASIA 
1 196 
of lads were singing with clear, tuneful voices the in- 
evitable prayer, and right pleasant indeed it sounded. All 
the same, it was a real relief to step outside into the 
fresh air, and turn my back upon the idle mummeries 
of idolatry. And yet there was much in all this that is 
common to Roman Catholicism, with its monks, its 
images of the saints, soft mystic lighting of its places 
of worship, its gilded and tinsel - decorated churches, 
its array of artificial lights, its choirs of .singing boys. 
A great many houses and walls, all whitewashed, 
clustered on the hills around and above this complex 
of temples : seen from Lusar, they looked like long lines 
of sheets hung out to dry. The town of Kum-bum was 
bigger than either Ten-kar or Lusar, especially in the 
seasons when throngs of pilgrims from Tibet, Tsaidam, 
Koko-nor, and Mongolia flock thither for the great 
religious festivals. 
I stayed in Lusar over the 21st and 22nd November, 
paying two or three more visits to Kum-bum to sketch 
various views. After dark some of the lamas, who heard 
that I was buying temple flags and burkhans, came and 
offered to sell me some, and those that w'ere not too dear 
were packed away in my boxes. I also bought several 
bowls for offerings made of brass, some silver g'avos, and 
a damaruh or prayer-drum, made out of the crowns of 
a couple of human skulls. 
