sign of his own
inn; and whether he lodged at the "Hotel of Justice and Mercy," or at
that of the "Three Perfections," or the "Five Felicities," or put up at
the "Temperate Climate" inn, M. Huc finds matter for amusing
description. On these occasions the great fear of the missionaries was,
that they should be taken for English, seeing that these latter were not
in favor just then:

At Tchoang-Long we lodged at the hotel of the "Three Social
Relations," where we had the pleasantest landlord imaginable to
deal with. He was a true Chinese: and, to give us a proof of
his perspicacity, asked us point blank if we were not
English--adding, to make the question clearer, that he meant by
Ing-kie-li, the sea-devils (Yang-kouei-Dze,) who were making
war at Canton. "No, we are not English, and we are neither sea
nor land-devils, nor devils of any sort." A lounger who stood
by luckily counteracted the bad effect of the interpellation.
"Why," said he to the innkeeper, "don't you know how to look at
men's faces? How can you fancy that these men can be
Yang-kouei-Dze? Don't you know that their eyes are always blue,
and their hair quite red?" "True," said the innkeeper, "I had
not thought of that." "No, indeed," we added; "you cannot have
reflected. Do you think that sea-monsters could live on land,
and ride on horseback, as we do?" "True, true, the Ing-kie-li,
it is said, never dare to leave the sea: as soon as they come
ashore, they tremble, and die, like fish out of water." A great
deal more was said of the manners and customs of the
sea-monsters--the result of which was, that we could not
possibly be of the same race.

In the beginning of 1846, after incredible trials and fatigues, M. Huc
and his companion reached Lha-Ssa, the capital of Thibet--the Rome of
Buddhism. The perils of the road were at an end; but dangers of another
sort were to be expected. It was not to be supposed that the ostensible
object of their journey--the propagation of a new religion--could fail
to give umbrage to a purely ecclesiastical government, such as that of
the Tale-Lama. For persecutions they were, therefore, prepared; but
certainly did not expect it from the quarter in which it was destined to
originate. Strange to say, the opposition they met with, and which
finally achieved their expulsion from Thibet, was political, and not
religious--the r