A new Nomekhan was elected in the place of the exile. The person selected for this important charge was the Chaberon of the Lamasery of Ran-Tchan, a young man of eighteen years of age. The Talé-Lama and the new Nomekhan being minors, at the time that we arrived at Lha-Ssa, the regency was entrusted to the first Kalon. All the solicitude of the Regent was applied to the erection of barriers against the encroachments and usurpation of the Chinese ambassador, who sought, by all possible means, to avail himself of the present feebleness of the Thibetian government.
CHAPTER VI.
Visit of Five Spies—Appearance before the Regent—Ki-Chan makes us undergo an Examination—Supper at the expense of the Government—A night of imprisonment with the Regent—Confidential communications of the Governor of the Katchi—Domiciliary Visit—Seals affixed to all our effects—Sinico-Thibetian Tribunal—Inquiry about the Geographical Maps—Homage paid to Christianity, and to the French name—The Regent assigns to us one of his Houses—Erection of a Chapel—Preaching of the Gospel—Conversion of a Chinese Doctor—Religious Conferences with the Regent—Recreation with a Magnifying Glass—Conversations with Ki-Chan—Religious character of the Thibetians—Celebrated formula of the Buddhists—Buddhist Pantheism—Election of the Talé-Lama—The Small-pox at Lha-Ssa—Sepultures in use among the Thibetians.
As soon as we had presented ourselves to the Thibetian authorities, declaring our characters and the object which had brought us to Lha-Ssa, we availed ourselves of the semi-official position we had
thus taken, to enter into communication with the Thibetian and Tartar Lamas, and thus, at last, to begin our work as missionaries. One day, when we were sitting beside our modest hearth, talking of religious questions with a Lama who was well versed in Buddhist learning, a Chinese dressed in exquisite style suddenly appeared before us, saying that he was a merchant and very desirous of buying our goods. We told him we had nothing to sell. “How, nothing to sell?” “Not anything, except indeed those two old saddles, which we do not want any longer.” “Ah, exactly; that is just what I am looking for; I want saddles.” Then, while he examined our poor merchandise, he addressed to us a thousand questions about our country and the places we had visited before we came to Lha-Ssa. Shortly afterwards there arrives a second Chinese, then a third, and at last two Lamas, in costly silk scarves. All these visitors insisted upon buying something from us; they overwhelmed us with questions, and seemed, at the same time, to scrutinise with distrust all the corners of our chamber.
We might say, as often as we liked, that we were not merchants—they insisted. In default of silk, drapery, or hardware, they would like our saddles; they turned them round and round in every way, finding them now perfectly magnificent, now abominable. At last, after long haggling and cross-questioning, they went off, promising to return.
The visit of these five individuals occasioned much serious reflection; their manner of acting and speaking was not at all natural. Although they came one after the other, yet they seemed perfectly to understand each other, and to aim at the same end by the same means. Their desire of buying something from us was evidently a mere pretext for disguising their intentions: these people were rather swindlers or spies, than real merchants. “Well,” we said, “let us wait quietly; sooner or later we shall see clearly into this affair.”