-Tou-Sse tribe of Dchiahours. Yang-Tou-Sse is the most celebrated
and the most redoubtable of all these tribes, and for a long time
exercised great influence at Lha-Ssa, the capital of Thibet, but this
influence was destroyed in 1845, in consequence of an event which we
shall relate by-and-by.

After thoroughly resting from our fatigue, we departed early next
morning. Everywhere, on our way, we saw traces of the tempest, in trees
uprooted and torn, houses unroofed, fields devastated and almost entirely
deprived of their surface soil. Before the end of the day, we arrived at
Tchoang-Long, more commonly called Ping-Fang, an ordinary town, with a
tolerable amount of trade, but in no way noticeable, whether for its
beauty or for its deformity. We went to lodge at the Hotel of the Three
Social Relations (_San-Kan-Tien_), whose landlord was one of the best
humoured and most amusing persons we had hitherto met with. He was a
thorough Chinese: to give us a proof of his sagacity, he asked us, point
blank, whether we were not English; and that we might thoroughly
understand his question, he added that he understood by Ing-Kie-Li, the
sea-devils (_Yang-Kouei-Dze_) who were making war at Canton. "No, we are
not English; nor are we devils of any sort, whether of sea or land." An
idler who was standing by, interposed to prevent the ill effect of this
awkward question. "You," said he to the innkeeper, "you know nothing of
physiognomy. How could you suppose that these people are Yang-Kouei-Dze?
Don't you know that they have all blue eyes and red hair?" "You're
right," returned the host, "I had not thought of that." "No," said we,
"clearly you had not thought at all. Do you suppose that sea-monsters
could live as we do, on land, and ride on horses?" "You're right, quite
so; the Ing-Kie-Li, they say, never venture to quit the sea, for when
they're on land they tremble and die like fish out of water." We were
favoured with a good deal more information of the same class, respecting
the manners and characters of the sea-devils, the up-shot of which, so
far as we were concerned, was the full admission that we did not belong
to the same race.

A little before night, an immense bustle pervaded the inn. A Living
Buddha had arrived, with a numerous train, on his return from a journey
into Thibet, his native country, to the grand Lamasery, of which for many
years he had been the superior, and which was situated in the country of
t