one in most minute detail; but what is most
surprising is, that no one seems to entertain the least doubt of the full
accomplishment of the events they foretell. Every one speaks of them as
of things certain and infallible. The Chinese residing at Lha-Ssa seem
likewise to attach credit to the prediction, but they take good care not
to trouble their heads much about it; they hope that the crisis will not
come for a long while, that by that time they may be dead, or at least be
able to anticipate it. As for the Bandchan-Remboutchi, they say he is
preparing himself vigorously for the grand revolution of which he is
destined to be the soul. Although already advanced in years he often
practices military exercises: every moment which is not absorbed by his
high functions as Living Buddha he employs in making himself familiar
with his future position of generalissimo of the Kalons. They affirm
that he shoots an arrow very skilfully, and that he handles with great
dexterity the lance and the matchlock. He breeds large herds of horses
for his future cavalry, and packs of enormous dogs, which, combining
prodigious strength with superior intelligence, are destined to play an
important part in the grand army of the Kalons.

These absurd and extravagant ideas have so made their way with the
masses, and particularly with those who belong to the society of the
Kalons, that they are very likely, at some future day, to cause a
revolution in Thibet. It is never without result that people thus
preoccupy their minds with the future. After the death of the Grand Lama
of Djachi-Loumbo, a reckless adventurer will only have to proceed to
Thien-Chan-Pe-Lou, boldly proclaim himself Bandchan-Remboutchi, and
summon the Kalons together--nothing more will, probably, be required to
raise these fanatical people.

An actual and immediate result of this society of the Kalons is to give
the Bandchan-Remboutchi an importance which seems by slow degrees to be
compromising the supremacy of the Tale-Lama. This result is the more
feasible, that the sovereign of Lha-Ssa is a child of nine years old, and
that his three predecessors have fallen victims to a violent death before
attaining their majority, which is fixed by the laws at twenty years of
age. The Bandchan-Remboutchi, who seems to be an able and ambitious man,
will not have failed to take advantage of these four minorities to
confiscate to his own advantage a portion of the spiritual and temp