e people, by whom they
are supported, fed, and clothed. I found the Lamas, as a rule,
intelligent, but inhuman, even barbarously cruel and dishonorable. This
was not my own experience alone. I heard the same from the overridden
natives, who wished for nothing better than a chance to shake off their
yoke.

Availing themselves of the absolute ignorance in which they succeed in
keeping the people, the Lamas practise to a great extent strange arts,
by which they profess to cure illnesses, discover murders and thefts,
stop rivers from flowing, and bring storms about at a moment's notice.
Certain ceremonies, they say, drive away the evil spirits that cause
disease. The Lamas are adepts at hypnotic experiments, by which means
they contrive to let the subjects under their influence see many things
which are not there in reality. To this power are due the frequent
reports of apparitions of Buddha, seen generally by single individuals,
and the visions of demons, the accounts of which terrify the
simple-minded natives. Rather than get more closely acquainted with
these evil spirits the ignorant pay the monastery whatever little cash
they may possess.

Mesmerism plays an important part in the weird Lama dances, which show
the strangest kind of movements and attitudes. The dancer finally falls
into a cataleptic state, and remains rigid, as if dead, for a long time.

The larger Lamaseries support one or more Lama sculptors, who travel to
the most inaccessible spots in the district, in order to carve on
cliffs, rocks, stones, or on pieces of horn, the everlasting
inscription, "_Omne mani padme hun_," which one sees all over the
country.

Weird and picturesque places, such as the highest points on mountain
passes, gigantic bowlders, rocks near the sources of rivers, or any spot
where a _mani_ wall exists, are the places most generally selected by
these artists upon which to engrave the magic words alluding to the
reincarnation of Buddha from a lotus flower.

The prayer-wheels, those mechanical contrivances by which the Tibetans
pray to their god by means of water, wind, and hand power, are also
manufactured by Lama artists. The larger ones, moved by water, are
constructed by the side of, or over, a stream. The huge cylinders on
which the entire Tibetan prayer-book is inscribed are revolved by the
flowing water. The prayers moved by wind-power are merely long strips of
cloth on which prayers are often printed. As long as there is