iven into the
court-yard for the purpose of our camels. Therefore we took a
resolution--better late than never--to admit, in future, no merchant
whatever into our room.

The House of Repose, as we have already indicated, was kept by Musselmen.
One day, their Mufti, who had recently arrived from Lan-Tcheu, the
capital of Kan-Sou, attended at the house, in order to preside over some
religious ceremony, the nature and object of which they would not explain
to us. Sandara the Bearded, however, had an explanation of his own,
which was, that the Grand Lama of the Hoei-Hoei attended on these
occasions to teach his sectaries the latest improvements in the art of
cheating in trade. For two days, the principal Mussulmen of the town
assembled in a large apartment, contiguous to our own. There they
remained for a long time, squatting on the ground, with their heads
resting on their knees. When the Mufti appeared, all sent forth groans
and sobs. After they had sufficiently lamented in this fashion, the
Mufti recited, with a perfectly alarming volubility of tongue, several
Arabic prayers; then everybody had another turn at lamenting, after which
the cheerful assembly separated. This doleful ceremony was performed
thrice in each of the two first days. On the morning of the third day,
all the Mussulmen ranged themselves in the court-yard round the Mufti,
who was seated on a stool, covered with a fine red carpet. Then the host
of the House of Repose brought in a fine sheep, adorned with flowers and
ribbons. The sheep was laid on its side, the host held it by its head,
and two other Mussulmen by the legs, while a fourth presented to the
Mufti a knife on a silver dish. He took the knife with great gravity,
and approaching the victim, thrust the weapon up to the hilt into its
neck. Thereupon cries and groans once more resounded on all sides.
These ceasing, the sheep was skinned, cut up, and taken into the kitchen
to be cooked, and, by-and-by, a grand entertainment of boiled mutton,
presided over by the Mufti, closed the ceremony.

The Mussulmen, or Hoei-Hoei, are very numerous in China. It is said that
they penetrated thither under the dynasty of the Thang, which began in
618, and terminated in 907. They were received by the Emperor, who at
that period resided at Si-Ngan-Fou, the present capital of Chan-Si. They
were kindly entertained, and the Emperor, struck with their fine features
and forms, loaded them with favours, an