This page needs to be proofread.
216
ACROSS THIBET.
although, on these occasions, the mandarins tell us that we are quite safe within the precincts of their tribunal. We inform the crowd that, if one of them dares to lay hands on us, we shall shoot him, while the mandarins are told that we shall hold them responsible for any blood shed. This has the desired effect; and it is the same with the future bachelors of letters whom we meet on the road, this being the period for examinations, for although
