was attached to the Nepaulese contingent, of forming an intimacy with a
"Guru" connected with the force. It was not until our acquaintance had
ripened into a warm friendship that I gradually made the discovery that
this interesting man held views which differed so widely from the popular
conception of Buddhism as I had known it in Ceylon--where I had resided
for some years--that my curiosity was roused,--the more especially as he
was in the habit of sinking off gradually, even while I was speaking to
him, into trance-conditions, which would last sometimes for a week,
during which time he would remain without food; and upon more than one
occasion I missed even his material body from my side, under
circumstances which appeared to me at the time unaccountable. The
Nepaulese troops were not very often engaged with the rebels during the
Indian Mutiny; but when they were, the Guru was always to be seen under
the hottest fire, and it was generally supposed by the army that his
body, so far from being impervious to bullets, was so pervious to them
that they could pass through it without producing any organic
disturbance. I was not aware of this fact at first; and it was not until
I observed that, while he stood directly in the line of fire, men were
killed immediately behind him, that I ceased to accompany him into
action, and determined, if possible, to solve a mystery which had begun
to stimulate my curiosity to the highest pitch. It is not necessary for
me to enter here into the nature of the conversations I had with him on
the most important and vital points affecting universal cosmogony and the
human race and its destiny. Suffice it to say, that they determined me
to sever my connection with the Government of India; to apply privately,
through my friend the Guru, to the late Jung Bahadoor for permission to
reside in Nepaul; and finally, in the garb of an Oriental, to take up my
residence in Khatmandhu, unknown to the British authorities. I should
not now venture on this record of my experiences, or enter upon the
revelation of a phase hitherto unknown and unsuspected, of that esoteric
science which has, until now, been jealously guarded as a precious
heritage belonging exclusively to regularly initiated members of
mysteriously organised associations, had not Mr Sinnett, with the consent
of a distinguished member of the Thibetan brotherhood, and, in fact, at
his dictation, let, if I may venture to use so profane an expre