TIBET. 
2 89 
lion ever existed in a state of nature here, it must have been at the same 
« 
time with those vast monsters, whose bones are found in huge heaps in 
various parts of Tartary and Siberia at this day, and clearly point to 
some great convulsion, and change, in the order of our globe. But be 
this as it may, we see the head of the lion held up in Tibet with marks 
of high distinction and respect, though we can trace no certain clue 
to discover, by what means he obtained this honour. 
My inquisitive hosts led me by their curious inquiries, over a great 
part of the globe, from the torrid to the frigid zone. It much excited 
their wonder to hear, that a part of the world was for half the year 
illumined by the sun, and remained the other half in continual dark¬ 
ness. Much was said to me upon the subject of comets and eclipses, 
which are phsenomena considered by them, as the most certain prog’ 
nostics of good, or evil. 
I told them that both w r ere regarded by us, as mere matters of course, 
and that the appearance of either was regularly calculated with great 
precision, many years before it took place. However, it was vain 
for me to attempt to shake their faith, to efface from their calendar the 
string of lucky and unlucky days, or to discredit the important omens 
they draw from a change of weather, either within four or six days 
after the appearance of an eclipse. I was questioned respecting our 
mode of reckoning time, and whether the computation we had adopted 
corresponded like theirs, with the signs of the zodiac, and the cycle of 
twelve years. 
Soopoon Choomboo was desirous of instituting a comparison 
between the merit of European and Chinese astronomers. Without 
