"

"The wise and favored-of-the-gods Living Buddha burned incense in a
brazier and prayed to the Gods to reveal the lot of the Princes. In the
blue smoke all saw a dark prison and the pallid, tortured bodies of the
dead Princes. . . ."

A special book, already done into thousands of copies, dwelt upon the
miracles of the present Living Buddha. Prince Djam Bolon described to me
some of the contents of this volume.

"There exists an ancient wooden Buddha with open eyes. He was brought
here from India and Bogdo Gheghen placed him on the altar and began to
pray. When he returned from the shrine, he ordered the statue of Buddha
brought out. All were struck with amazement, for the eyes of the God
were shut and tears were falling from them; from the wooden body green
sprouts appeared; and the Bogdo said:

"'Woe and joy are awaiting me. I shall become blind but Mongolia will be
free.'

"The prophecy is fulfilled. At another time, on a day when the Living
Buddha was very much excited, he ordered a basin of water brought and
set before the altar. He called the Lamas and began to pray. Suddenly
the altar candles and lamps lighted themselves and the water in the
basin became iridescent."

Afterwards the Prince described to me how the Bogdo Khan tells fortunes
with fresh blood, upon whose surface appear words and pictures; with the
entrails of sheep and goats, according to whose distribution the Bogdo
reads the fate of the Princes and knows their thoughts; with stones and
bones from which the Living Buddha with great accuracy reads the lot of
all men; and by the stars, in accordance with whose positions the Bogdo
prepares amulets against bullets and disease.

"The former Bogdo Khans told fortunes only by the use of the 'black
stone,'" said the Maramba. "On the surface of the stone appeared Tibetan
inscriptions which the Bogdo read and thus learned the lot of whole
nations."

When the Maramba spoke of the black stone with the Tibetan legends
appearing on it, I at once recalled that it was possible. In
southeastern Urianhai, in Ulan Taiga, I came across a place where black
slate was decomposing. All the pieces of this slate were covered with a
special white lichen, which formed very complicated designs, reminding
me of a Venetian lace pattern or whole pages of mysterious runes. When
the slate was wet, these designs disappeared; and then, as they were
dried, the patterns came out again.

Nobody has the right or dares to ask