of long continued friction, before a large fire, with a certain ointment which they compound. To complete the full measure of his religious penance, I understood that there ftill remained two other experiments for Prânpooree to perform. In the first of thefe, the devotee is fufpended by the feet to the branch of a tree, over a fire, which is kept in a continual blaze, and fwung backwards and forwards, his hair paffing through the flame, for one pahr and a quarter, that is, three hours and three quarters. Having paffed through this fiery trial, he may then prepare himself for the laft act of probation, which is, to be buried alive, ftanding upright, in a pit dug for the purpofe; the fresh earth being thrown in upon him, fo that he is completely covered. In this fituation he must remain for one pabr and a quarter, or three hours and three quarters; and if at the expiration of that time, on the removal of the earth, he fhould be found alive, he will afcend into the highest rank among the most pure of the Yogee (Jugi)." MANNERS OF NATIONS. OBSERVATIONS on the RELIGION, MONASTIC ESTABLISHMENTS, CEREMONIES, FESTIVALS, CUSTOMS, &c. of TIBET, including an Account of the Author's Interviews with the Infant TESHOO LAMA. [From Captain TURNER'S ACCOUNT of an EMBASSY to the COURT of the TESHOO LAMA.] "I SHALL, for very obvious reafons, decline entering into any formal difcuffion refpecting the nature of this religion. It is evidently a fubject, to acquire a competent knowledge of which, neceffarily demands a long refidence in the country, and an accurate and critical acquaintance with its language. I hall therefore content myfef, as I have hitherto done, with communicating faithfully, fuch fuperficial information as I was enabled to obtain, refpecting the religion of Tibet, and with delineating what occurred to my own immediate oblervation refpecting its external forms. It seems, then, to be the fchifmatical offspring of the religion of the Hindoos, deriving its origin from one of the followers of that faith, a difciple of Budh, who firft broached the doctr ne which now prevails over the wide extent of Tartary. It is reported to have received its earlieft admiffion in that part of Tibet bordering upon India, (which from hence became the feat of the fovereign Lamas; to have traverfed over Manichieux Tartary, and to have been ultimately diffeminated over China and Japan. Though it differs from the Hindoo in many of its outward forms, yet it ftill bears a very clofe affinity with the religion of Brahma in many important particulars. The principal idol in the temples of Tibet is Mahamoonie, the Budha of Bengal, who is worshipped under thefe and various other epithets throughout the great extent of Tartary, and among all the nations to the eastward of the Berhampooter. In the wide extended fpace over which this faith prevails, the fame object of veneration is acknowledged under numerous titles: among others he is ftyled Godama or Gowtama, in Affam and Ava; Samana, in Siam; Amida Buth, in Japan; Fohi in China; Budha and Shakamuna, in Bengal and Hindooftan; Dherma Raja and Mahamoonie, in Bootan and Tibet. Durga and Kali; Ganeifh, the enblem of wisdom; and Cart keäh, with his numerous heads and arms, as well as many other deities of the Hindoo mythology, have aifo a place in their aflemblage of gods. "The fame places of popular efteem or religious refort, as I have already hinted, are equally refpe&t ed ed in Tibet and in Bengal; Praag, Cathi, Dargeedin, Saugor, and Jagarnaut, are objects of devout pilgrimage; and I have feen loads of the facred water taken from the Ganges, traveling over thefe m untains, (which, by the bye, contribute largely to its increafe) upon the fhoulders of men, whom enthufiafts have deemed it worth their while to hire at a confiderable expence for fo pious a purpose. As far as I am able to judge refpecting their ritual, or ceremonial worship, it differs materially from the Hindoo. The Tibetians affemble in chapels, and unite together in prodigious numbers, to perform their religious fervice, which they chant in alternate recitative and chorus, accompanied by an extenfive band of loud and powerful inftruments. So that, whenever I heard thefe congregations, they forcibly recalled to my recollection both the folemnity and found of the Roman-catholic mafs. "The inftruments made ufe of were all of an enormous fize. Trumpets above fix feet long; drums fretched over copper cauldron, fuch as are termed nowbut in Hindooftan; the gong, a circular Chinese inftrument of thin hammered bell-metal, capable of producing a furprifing found; cymbals, hautboys; and a double drum, fhallow, but of great circumference, mounted upon a tall, flender pedestal, which the performer turns with great facility, ftriking either fide with a long curved iron, as the piece requires a higher or a lower tone: thefe, together with the human tibia, and fea conch, a large fpecies of the buccinum, compote, for the moft part, their religious band. Harth as thefe inftruments, individually taken, might found to a mufical "Other mufical inftruments are "From many of the prejudices "In nothing, however, does as 1 "The religion of the Hindoo, without any acknowledged individual fuperior, and almoft without any edifices of magnitude fet apart for its profeffors (at least in Bengal and Hindooftan), mixes all alike in the common bufinefs of the world; and a promifcuous multitude is continually paffing before the eye, among whom no external diftinction of character can be traced, unless by chance you fhall difcover that facred and difcriminating mark, the zennar, which is a fmall cord, made of the cufa grafs, worn next the fkin, paffing over the fhoulder to the hip, by the Brahman only. On fuch a difcovery, I have feen a clean and well-dreffed man come up to another who had been employed as a meffenger between two Englifhmen, humiliating him felf before him with profound refpect, touching the ground he trod on, and even kiffing his flipper after he had been pafing through wet and dirty roads. Those who are in. terested in keeping up the illufion are mixed and blended invariably with every rank of fociety; fo that the machine, having been once fet a-going, moves on in one uniform and inceffant round; whilft enthufiafm is fufficiently kept alive by the frequent recurrence of public feftivals, in which all are feen to take a fhare, celebrating them with the most extravagant pageantry and oftentatious parade. "The fober and reflecting character of the Tibetians exhibits a different picture. Among them, all is fyftem and order. The mind readily obeys the fuperiority it has been accuftomed to acknowledge. A fovereign Lama, immaculate, immortal, omniprefent, and omnifcient, is placed at the fummit of their fabric. He is esteemed the vicegerent of the only God, the mediator between mortals and the Supreme. They view him only in the most amiable light, as perpetually abforbed in religious duty; and, when called to beftow attention on mortal beings, as employed only in the benign office of diftributing comfort and confolation by his bleffing, and in exercifing the first of all attributes, forgivenefs and mercy. He is alfo the centre of all civil government, which derives from his authority all its influence and power. At the fame time that he is the foul which animates their whole system, a regular gradation, from the most venerated Lama, through the whole order of Gylongs to the young noviciate, is obferved with rigid feverity. "The inferior gradations from the prefident of a monaftery, who is always ftyled Lama, in addition to the name of the station to which he belongs, are Gylong, Tohba, and Tuppa. "On the establishment of the monaftery of Tefhoo Loomboo, were reckoned at that period no lefs than three thousand feven hundred Gylongs, for the performance of daily fervice in the Goomba, or temple. Four Lamas, chofen from amongst them, fuperintend and direct their religious ceremonies. "One is annually elected from among the Gylongs, whofe duty, for the time being, is that of attending to the due prefervation of regularity and order; he infpe&s the diftribution of provifions; has a right at all times to enter the apartments of the priests; is prefent at all religious affemblies and proceffions; and is armed, as a badge of office, with a wand in one hand, and a small brazier of burning in cenfe, cenfe, pendent by three chains from the extremity of a staff, in the other. With thefe infignia of his office, he is at liberty to mark any visible inattention by flightly burning the party, or by a blow. The terrors of his office and his ftation devolve, at the expiration of one year, on another of the Gylongs; during his continuance in authority he is ftyled Kegwi. "Youth intended for the fervice of the monastery are received into the establishment at the age of eight or ten years; they are then called Tuppa; and are occupied in receiving the inftruction fuited to their age, and the duties for which they are defigned. At fifteen they are ufually admitted of the order of Tohba, the first step in their religious clafs; and if, after paffing through a careful examination, they are found fufficiently qualified, from that of Tohba they are admitted into the order of Gylong, between the age of twenty-one and twenty-four, They then become eligible, according to the weight of their intereft, or ftrength of their pretenfions, to the fuperintendence of fome endow ed monaftery, of which there are multitudes fpread all over Tibet, with lands affigned to them for their fupport. In this ftation, as chief of a flock, the fuperintendent is ftyled Lama. 4 "Those who enter the religious order are enjoined fobriety, forego the fociety of women, and confine themselves to the auftere practices of the cloifter. Of nunneries, as well as monafteries, the number is confiderable; and the ftricteft laws exift, to prevent any woman even from accidentally paffing a night within the limits of the one, or a man within those of the other. Indeed there appears to be a regulation among them, most completely framed to obviate abufe, and eftablith respect towards the facred orders of both fexes. "The nation is divided into two diftinct and feparate claffes; those who carry on the bufinefs of the world, and those who hold intercourfe with heaven. No interference of the laity ever interrupts the regulated duties of the clergy. The latter, by mutual compact, take charge of all their fpiritual concerns; and the former, by their labours, enrich and populate the ftate. "I was one day called to the window by a fudden and loud crafh of inftrumental and vocal music, which ftruck up at once at no great diftance from my apartments. I foon faw a prodigious crowd advance, and turn into an avenue of the monaftery, whether or not for the purpofe of acquiring any addition to their party I cannot pronounce; but prefently they appeared again, and I obferved a moft motley group, compofed of a very numerous concourfe of fpectators, as well as a large party of Gylongs, who, as I was told, were engaged in the celebration of fome religious feftival. "A confiderable number of priefts advanced by files of two and two, led by a Lama, having a wand in one hand, and in the other a cafket or brazier of incenfe, fufpended by three metallic chains from the end of a long ftaff, which emitted a thick fmoke as the proceffion moved along. "A powerful band of their most noify inftruments immediately followed. First were ten performers with huge trumpets, which they founded, refting one end upon the ground; next followed twenty men with large tabors, a fort of drum about three feet in diameter, fixed by |