Recollections of a Journey Through Tartary, Thibet, and China: During the Years 1844, 1845, and 1846D. Appleton, 1860 |
Common terms and phrases
abode Alechan animals appeared argols arrived asked began Blue Town boat brothers Buddha Buddhist butter buttered tea camels caravan Chaberon chiemba China Chinese Christian cold cried Dchiahour desert door Eight Banners emperor Emperor of China encampment entered eyes fire flocks Gabet give Grand Lama ground Guison-Tamba habitation hands head heard horses immense inhabitants journey Kan-Sou Ki-Chan Kounboum Lama convents Lamaserai Land of Grass Lha-Ssa living Buddha looked Lord Lamas magnificent Mandarin manner master Mongol Mongol language Mongolia mountain mule never night Nomekhan numerous Ortous ourselves oxen passed pastures Pekin pilgrims pitch our tent poor prayers prostrate Regent religion replied road robbers Samdadchiemba Sandara sapecks seemed sheep side sometimes soon Talé Lama Tang-Keou-Eul Tartars temple Thibet Thibetan thing thought tion took travellers turn Whilst words Yellow River
Popular passages
Page 94 - They who have been traveling long on the steppes of Tartary say, "On re-entering cultivated lands, the agitation, perplexity, and turmoil of civilization oppressed and suffocated us; the air seemed to fail us, and we felt every moment as if about to die of asphyxia." When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most interminable and, to the citizen, most dismal, swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow, of nature....
Page 85 - The fantastical and the grotesque predominate inside and out, both in carvings and statuary, and the person ages represented, with the exception of Buddha, have generally a monstrous and satanic aspect. The clothes seem never to have been made for the persons upon whom they are placed. The idea given is that of broken limbs concealed beneath awkward garments. •' Amongst these Lama paintings, however, you sometimes come across specimens by no means destitute of beauty.
Page 102 - Tartar bonhommie as they supposed. We were pretty well aware that we had to do with a couple of sharpers, who were preparing to appropriate the money of which they supposed us possessed. By dint of looking on all sides, we at last espied a sign, on which was written in large Chinese characters " Hotel of the Three Perfections, lodging for travellers on Horse or Camel ; all sorts of business negotiated with unfailing success.
Page 130 - There were more than fifty of them encrusted in the ice. No doubt they had tried to swim across at the moment of congelation, and had. been unable to disengage themselves. Their beautiful heads, surmounted by huge horns, were still above the surface, but their bodies were held fast in the ice, which was so transparent that the position of the imprudent beasts was easily distinguishable ; they looked as if still swimming, but the eagles and ravens had pecked out their...
Page 76 - Lamaserai enjoys such a great reputation, that the worshippers of Buddha make pilgrimages to it from all parts of Tartary and Thibet, and at the festivals the confluence of strangers is immense.
Page 211 - The sacred formula," says M. Hue, " ' Om mani padme houm,' spread rapidly through all the countries of Thibet and Mongolia. . . . They (the Buddhists of these districts) have written an infinity of voluminous books to explain their famous mani. The Lamas say the doctrine contained in these marvellous words is immense, and that the whole life of a man is insufficient to measure its breadth and depth." The Regent of Thibet, however, explained it to M. Hue, who sums up the explanation thus: "The literal...
Page 74 - Buddha face to face, through a hole not larger than the mouth " of a pipe. He is seated in the heart of the mountain, cross-legged, and doing " nothing, surrounded by Lamas of all countries engaged in continual prostrations. " In the deserts of Tartary, Mongols are frequently met with carrying on their " shoulders the bones of their kindred, and journeying in caravans to the Five " Towers, there to purchase, almost at its weight in gold, a few feet of earth ' ' whereon to erect a mausoleum. Some...
Page 208 - That is true. Your mandarins are more fortunate than ours ; your government is better than ours. Our emperor cannot know every thing ; yet he is the judge of every thing, and no one dares find fault with any of his actions. Our emperor says, ' That is white ; ' and we prostrate ourselves, and say, ' Yes, it is white.' He shows us afterwards the same object, and says, ' That is black;' and we prostrate ourselves again, and answer,
Page 204 - ... benefit, was retiring modestly and complacently to his own abode, when happening to turn his head to enjoy the spectacle of the wheel's pious revolutions, he saw the other Lama stop it, and set it whirling again for himself. Indignant, of course, at this unwarrantable interference with his own devotions, he ran back, and in his turn put a stop to his rival's piety, and both of them continued this kind of demonstration for some time, till at last losing patience they proceeded to menaces, and...
Page 208 - For about 20 days it is as naked as if it had been clean shared from head to tail. While in this state, it is extemely sensitive to cold, rain, and the annoyance of flies, from which latter its keeper is careful to preserve it by the application of tar. But by degrees the hair grows again ; at first it is extremely fine and beautiful, and when it is once more long and thick, the camel can brave the severest frost. The fleece of an ordinary camel weighs about ten pounds ; but its color and abundance...