ing to refresh
himself except his prayers--and what were they? Texts from a work
which taught that there was no God, no Creator, no creation,--nothing
but mind, minding itself. It is incredible in how exhausted an
atmosphere the divine spark within us will glimmer on, and even warm
the dark chambers of the human heart. Comforted by his prayers,
Hiouen-thsang proceeded, and arrived after some time at a large lake.
He was in the country of the Oigour Tatars. They received him well,
nay, too well. One of the Tatar Khans, himself a Buddhist, sent for
the Buddhist pilgrim, and insisted on his staying with him to instruct
his people. Remonstrances proved of no avail. But Hiouen-thsang was
not to be conquered. 'I know,' he said, 'that the king, in spite of
his power, has no power over my mind and my will;' and he refused all
nourishment, in order to put an end to his life. [Greek: Thanoumai kai
eleutheresomai.] Three days he persevered, and at last the Khan,
afraid of the consequences, was obliged to yield to the poor monk. He
made him promise to visit him on his return to China, and then to stay
three years with him. At last, after a delay of one month, during
which the Khan and his Court came daily to hear the lessons of their
pious guest, the traveller continued his journey with a numerous
escort, and with letters of introduction from the Khan to twenty-four
Princes whose territories the little caravan had to pass. Their way
lay through what is now called Dsungary, across the Musur-dabaghan
mountains, the northern portion of the Belur-tag, the Yaxartes valley,
Bactria, and Kabulistan. We cannot follow them through all the places
they passed, though the accounts which he gives of their adventures
are most interesting, and the description of the people most
important. Here is a description of the Musur-dabaghan mountains:

'The top of the mountain rises to the sky. Since the
beginning of the world the snow has been accumulating, and
is now transformed into vast masses of ice, which never
melt, either in spring or summer. Hard and brilliant sheets
of snow are spread out till they are lost in the infinite,
and mingle with the clouds. If one looks at them, the eyes
are dazzled by the splendour. Frozen peaks hang down over
both sides of the road, some hundred feet high, and twenty
feet or thirty feet thick. It is not without difficulty and
danger that the traveller can clear them