“ Om Maui Padmi om.” Placed on a jutting angle of
the spur, backed with the pine-clad hills, and flanked
by a torrent on either hand, the spot was wild and
picturesque; and I could not hut gaze with a feeling
of deep interest on these emblems of a religion which
perhaps numbers more votaries than any other on the
face of the globe. Boodhism in some form is the
predominating creed, from Siberia and Kamschatka to
Ceylon, from the Caspian steppes to Japan, throughout
China, Burmah, Ava, and a part of the Malayan
Archipelago. Its associations enter into every book
of travels over these vast regions, with Boodh,
Dhurma, Sunga, Jos, Fo, and praying-wheels. The
mind is arrested by the names, the imagination captivated
by the symbols ; and though I could not worship
in the grove, it was impossible to deny to the inscribed
stones such a tribute as is commanded by the first
glimpse of objects which have long been familiar
to our minds, hut not previously offered to our
senses. My head Lepcha went further: to a due observance
of demon-worship he united a deep reverence
for the Lamas, and he venerated their symbols rather
as theirs than as those of their religion. He walked
round the pile of stones three times from left to right
repeating his “ Om Mani,” &c., then stood before it
with his head hung down and his long queue streaming
behind, and concluded by a votive offering of three
pine-cones. When done, he looked round at me,
nodded, smirked, elevated the angles of his little turned-
up eyes, and seemed to think we were safe from all
perils in the valleys yet to be explored.
In the valley of the Rungeet the heat was intolerable,
though the thermometer did not rise above 95 . The
mountains leave hut a narrow gorge between them, here
PINES (PINUS LONOIFOLIA), RUNGEET VALLEY.
and there bordered by a belt of rich soil, supporting a
towering crop of long cane-like grasses and tall trees.