from intercourse with strangers, and shut out from the rest of the world
by inaccessible mountains, by Imaus, on the. one hand,,and by the inhospitable
deserts of Gobi, on the other, is not with reason to, he, expected;
and still less is it to be sought for, in more northerly regions, where one
half of the year is a season of profound darkness, and. the wretched
inhabitants are compelled to seek refuge from the severity of the seasons,
in deep and gloomy caverns; where, possibly,, the powers and
faculties of the mind, are in some degree benumbed by the same powerful
operation of intense cold, which arrests the progress of vegetable
life; and where, certainly, the great mass, of the people are doomed to
labour perpetually, for the scanty and precarious support of mere
animal existence.
hr proof of the antiquity of their knowledge of letters-, the Regent
and his friends urged the similarity of their alphabet to the Sanscrit
character, from which they avow it to- have been formed; but they
profess to. have departed a little from the shape and form of the original,
when they applied it to express a different language. Still,, however,
the; character in, which their sacred writings axe. preserved and
printed, styled Uchen, bears a strong resemblance to the Sanscrit,;. and
is quite as distinct from the. character of business and correspondence,
called Umin, as the old Roman text is from the English round, hand«
I began now to think it high time to close the interview, whichhad
been protracted, to an uncommon length, especially when; the Regent
himself informedme, that he had fixed upon the morrow for a journey
towards the western frontier, and that he designed to-visits the^hot-wells
previous to his return, telling me that his health, no less than, public
business, called for? jbil pjfesêndo'ih fjrffjr quarter. He said that he shdtilu
be,but a short;tifWé-lbs.èhfj' and, hnUfm^Veturn^^irgipnmeridedni^to
the care of Soopopn Qnophib0^ 4wJS®^ouldAbë"frequently ,whh me, and
attend toffall my wishes, yyhich he efrjdined me;freefy;||)t|^^iuiaicalei
But the kind aiid. affei^QhatgVatfe^tfèn of fjfëf R!egeh't\would not puffer
him -to^depart, withoilt makjug^wh-at h^deemèd, gtgr-pper;provision
fi>r(our, èotófoifej Prebiojusly-tcy tbc hecustomed^ ceremonies it pirting;
he,,g|igseÉted Mr. Saundefs andymiy self dv.itl l '^iuplcS^^cssos,} made
after the_ fashion, of; tlaij ebuhtry j^Rh^satin, gh-niy-iitv.lined wi’th
furs, and-jhufge,bnlga-f,bemts^Jibcleed, lhej>d'.iily>
foicibly reminded us, that a change oi launcnt would sqbu "become
indispensably necessary ;-hfor so-rapid!y, had1 the Winter already sopifp
thafc-water,placed in open, vessels,in our rooms,.,during the night,‘be»»
c.afne a,,solid.mass of.ice;» and-by the'Gxposure óhu thirty1 .'obtained'
eyery morning a rich repast, for^iny- breakfast.
-WenpwroSeto take our have, and were turning-toquit'the rbbm, wher^
the Regent,.Soopoon Ghoomboo, and the Lama of Luddauk,'rbs'c\^lsqy
The Regent, I was now informed, intended me; the honour qfayjsit,jpyeb
yiously to his departure. 1 caihnot dQubtJ’"tiha^curiosit) had'■ a great shpi e*’
in this compliment, and I was willing, to gratify it, by? exhibiting to hisr
inspection, all the apparatus Ï happened to have with me,’which, differing
incbnfrivance from what Ifound,here,’was likely to-attracÊfli-sjhptiéëV
, When, this compliment was. paid usfby the'Regent; our.'apar tmdritV
were thrown open, and uppnbntering them, one' of thq; first objects that,
forcibly attracted, his^notice and that ^óf-his attendants, was an iron
canopied, camp bedstead, with its European furniture.
O o