the soil.

A Lama, with red, round face, came to meet us, and conducted us to the
habitation which the administrator of the Lamasery had prepared for our
reception. We were installed in a large apartment which, only the
evening before, had served as the abode of sundry juvenile calves, too
young and too weak to follow the parent cows to the mountains. Every
pains had been taken to clean the apartment, but the success had not been
so perfect as to preclude our distinguishing on the floor many traces of
the late occupants; however, the authorities had assigned to us the best
accommodation that the Lamasery afforded.

Tchogortan is, as we have before stated, the country house of the Faculty
of Medicine of Kounboum: its aspect is tolerably picturesque, especially
in summer. The habitations of the Lamas, constructed at the foot of a
mountain, that terminates in a peak, are shaded by ancient trees, the
great branches of which afford a retreat to infinite kites and crows.
Some feet below these cottages, runs an abundant stream, interrupted by
various dams which the Lamas have constructed for the purpose of turning
their tchukor, or praying mills. In the depths of the valley, and on the
adjacent hills, you see the black tents of the Si-Fan, and a few herds of
goats and long-haired cattle. The rocky and rugged mountain which backs
the Lamasery, serves as an abode for five contemplative monks, who, like
the eagles, have selected as the site of their aeries the most elevated
and most inaccessible points. Some have hollowed out their retreat in
the living rock; others dwell in wooden cells, stuck against the mountain
like enormous swallows' nests; a few pieces of wood, driven into the
rock, form the staircase by which they ascend or descend. One of these
Buddhist hermits, indeed, who has entirely renounced the world, has
voluntarily deprived himself of these means of communication with his
fellows; a bag, tied to a long string, served as the medium for conveying
to him the alms of the Lamas and shepherds.

We had frequent conversations with these contemplative Lamas, but we
could never exactly ascertain what it was they contemplated up there in
their nests. They themselves could give nothing like a clear idea of the
matter; they had embraced this manner of life, they told us, because they
had read in their books that Lamas of very great sanctity had lived in
that way. However, they were worthy folks, of peaceful, simple,