Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/142

 traveller, but, if he look more deeply into it, he will find it is nothing but the wild unbridled nature of the nomad, requiring liberty for his childish habits, and perfectly indifferent to the awful despotism of social life. The very official, who to-day sits beside his inferior and smokes a pipe with him on terms of good-fellowship, may to-morrow punish his companion, confiscate his sheep, or practise any injustice he likes with impunity.

Bribery and corruption are as prevalent here as in China; a bribe will work miracles, and nothing can be done without it. The worst crime may go unpunished if the perpetrator gives a good purse to the proper authorities; on the other hand, a good act has no merit without a certain offering, and this system pervades the whole administration, from the lowest to the highest.

Turning to their religion, we see how deeply Lamaism has struck root in their midst, more so perhaps than in any other Buddhist country. Holding contemplation to be the ideal of all perfection, it exactly suits their indolent character, and has laid the foundation of that terrible asceticism which induces them to sever themselves from all desire for progress, and to seek, in obscure and abstract ideas of the Divinity and life beyond the tomb, the sum and end of man's earthly existence.