gns to the
_Sensin_; both, we may add, had "great idols and plenty of them." We have
seen in the account of the Taosse the ground that certain of their
ceremonies afford for the allegation that they "sometimes also worship
fire," whilst the whole account of that rite and of others mentioned by
Duhalde,[13] shows what a powerful element of the old devil-dancing
Shamanism there is in their practice. The French Jesuit, on the other
hand, shows us what a prominent place female divinities occupied in the
Bon-po Pantheon,[14] though we cannot say of either sect that "their idols
are all feminine." A strong symptom of relation between the two religions,
by the way, occurs in M. Durand's account of the Bon Temple. We see there
that _Shen-rabs_, the great doctor of the sect, occupies a chief and
central place among the idols. Now in the Chinese temples of the Taosse
the figure of _their_ Doctor _Lao-tseu_ is one member of the triad called
the "Three Pure Ones," which constitute the chief objects of worship. This
very title recalls General Cunningham's etymology of Bonpo.

[Illustration: Tibetan Bacsi]

[At the quarterly fair (_yueh kai_) of Ta-li (Yun-Nan), Mr. E. C. Baber
(_Travels_, 158-159) says: "A Fakir with a praying machine, which he
twirled for the salvation of the pious at the price of a few cash, was at
once recognised by us; he was our old acquaintance, the Bakhsi, whose
portrait is given in _Colonel Yule's Marco Polo_."--H. C.]

(_Hodgson_, in _J. R. A. S._ XVIII. 396 seqq.; _Ann. de la Prop, de la
Foi_, XXXVI. 301-302, 424-427; _E. Schlagintweit, Ueber die Bon-pa Sekte
in Tibet_, in the _Sitzensberichte_ of the Munich Acad. for 1866, Heft I.
pp. 1-12; _Koeppen_, II. 260; _Ladak_, p. 358; _J. As._ ser. II. tom. i.
411-412; _Remusat. Nouv. Mel. Asiat._ I. 112; _Astley_, IV. 205;
_Doolittle_, 191.)

NOTE 18.--Pauthier's text has _blons_, no doubt an error for _blous_. In
the G. Text it is _bloies_. Pauthier interprets the latter term as "blond
ardent," whilst the glossary to the G. Text explains it as both _blue_ and
_white_. _Raynouard's Romance Dict._ explains _Bloi_ as "Blond." Ramusio
has _biave_, and I have no doubt that _blue_ is the meaning. The same word
(_bloie_) is used in the G. Text, where Polo speaks of the bright colours
of the Palace tiles at Cambaluc, and where Pauthier's text has "_vermeil
et jaune et vert_ et blou," and again (infra, Bk. II. ch. xix.), where the
two corps of huntsmen are said to be