Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/274

 fetch a white camel or goat, which on seeing the adhering tortoise utters a cry, and then the creature drops its victim of its own accord.

The Mongols told us that there were no tortoises formerly in the Tahilga, but all of a sudden these strange creatures appeared. The astonished inhabitants did not know what to do, and in their dilemma asked the advice of the gigen [or living Buddha] of the nearest temple, who told them that the newly-arrived tortoise would make itself master of the River and that it was a sacred animal. Ever since then, once a month, a religious service is held at the source of the Tahilga by the lamas of the neighbouring temple.

In order to fix the latitude of Lake Tsaideming-nor I made an astronomical observation. The Mongols did not know what to make of my occupation, and began to suspect me to be a conjuror. Fortunately I remembered that in the end of July, exactly at the time I was making my observation, a number of falling stars would appear in the heavens; accordingly, after finishing my work, I told the assembled crowd that stars would shoot across the heavens that night. At any other time the Mongols would have paid no attention to such a phenomenon, but now they all wished to test the accuracy of my prophecy, and having satisfied themselves of its correctness that night, they no longer looked on me with suspicion. This shows how a little presence