Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/322

 our most constant visitors was the Lama Sordji, who came several times a day, and told us a great deal about Tibet. He related, amongst other things, that the pilgrims arriving at Lhassa were not allowed to see the Dalai Lama before having paid from three to five lans the first time, and one lan the second and every succeeding occasion of their seeing the incarnate deity. But this scale of charges refers only to the poorer people, who are provided with lodging and food at the cost of the sovereign of Tibet. The wealthier classes and the princes who come to make their devotions bring large and sometimes very rich presents to the Dalai Lama.

The present Dalai Lama is a boy of eighteen, and, as we heard the Buddhists relate, obtained his seat on the throne in the following manner. A short time before the death of his predecessor, a Tibetan woman came to pray at the temple. Hardly had the saint set eyes on her than he prophesied that she would become the mother of his successor. He then gave her bread and some kind of fruit, after partaking of which the woman conceived. Soon afterwards the Dalai Lama died, having named this woman as the mother of his successor. It is certain that the very moment the infant was born a miraculous stream of milk flowed from the post which supported the yurta, in proof of the holy calling and great sanctity of the new-born babe.

Another very interesting tale related by Sordji was the prophecy about Shambaling, the promised land of the Buddhists, to which at some future time