ard, in an enlightened capital,
explaining the miracle of speech in Balaam's ass, by reminding his
congregation that parrots--nay, even bull-finches, have been made to
speak, and therefore why not an ass? It never occurred to him, that in
the impossibility of the thing the miracle consisted. There is a little
of the same kind of oversight in the explanations of our missionaries.
They are, however, too earnest and single-hearted in their credulity to
be laughed at; and, on other occasions, when their powers of belief were
still further tested, they displayed a courageous resolution which
disarms ridicule, and is not the less admirable because shown on an
absurd occasion. Among the inferior class of Lamas there are many who
pretend to possess preternatural gifts, which are exorcised publicly on
solemn occasions, and greatly increase the fame of the saint who
exhibits them, and the revenues of the community of which he is a
member. M. Huc and his companion being in the neighborhood of a large
Lama-house, heard that one of these festivals was to be held, at which a
Lama was to perform the unpleasant but wonderful feat of disembowelling
himself for the gratification of the public, and after remaining in that
state for a certain time, during which he would answer any questions
respecting futurity, he would replace things in _statu quo_ by means of
a short prayer. According to their views of such matters, this could, of
course, be easily effected by the agency of the Evil One, and they were
confirmed in the idea by the wording of an invocation used on similar
occasions, and which certainly appears to indicate some infernal
bargain. Instead, therefore, of suspecting trickery, they only
considered how they could best prove the superiority of prayer over
incantations, and neutralize the power of the devil. They determined to
be present at the ceremony, and, in the midst of the diabolical
invocation, to stand forward, and in the name of the true God to arrest
the charm. An unforeseen accident fortunately prevented their reaching
the scene of action in time, or it is very possible that their journey
might have terminated then and there in martyrdom, in spite of
Buddhistic toleration. Faith and courage are, however, no subjects for
sarcasm, wherever they may be exhibited, and it seems to us that there
was a good deal of both in the above plan.

Our readers will see that these volumes are interesting, not only by the
facts they conta