at in punishing criminals, and it is rather
curious to note the coincidence of the English and Mongol mind.

'The Mongol doctors are not, it would seem, quite unacquainted with
the properties of galvanism. It is said that they are in the habit
of prescribing the loadstone ore, reduced to powder, as efficacious
when applied to sores, and one man hard of hearing had been
recommended by a lama to put a piece of loadstone into each ear and
chew a piece of iron in his mouth!

'Divination is another point on which Mongols are troublesome. It
never for a moment enters their head that a man so intelligent and
well fitted out with appliances as a foreigner seems to them to be
cannot divine. Accordingly they come to him to divine for them
where they should camp to be lucky and get rich, when a man who has
gone on a journey will return, why no news has been received from a
son or husband who is serving in the army, where they should dig a
well so as to get plenty of good water near the surface, whether it
would be fortunate for them to venture on some trading speculation,
whether they should go on some projected journey, in what direction
they should search for lost cattle, or, more frequently than any of
the above, they come, men and women, old and young, to have the
general luck of their lives examined into. Great is their amazement
when the foreigner confesses his ignorance of such art, and greater
still is their incredulity.

'The great obstacles to success in doctoring the Mongols are
two:--First: most of the afflicted Mongols suffer from chronic
diseases for which almost nothing can be done. Second: in many
cases, where alleviation or cures are effected, they are only of
short duration, as no amount of explanation or exhortation seems
sufficient to make them aware of the importance of guarding against
causes of disease. But, notwithstanding all this, many cures can be
effected on favourable subjects, and the fact that the missionary
carries medicines with him and attempts to heal, and that without
money and without price, aids the missionary cause by bringing him
into friendly communication with many who would doubtless hold
themselves aloof from any one who approached them in no other
character but that of a teacher of Christianity.'

CHAPTER