246 A THEATRE IN BUTTER !

colossal proportions, representing various subjects
taken from the history of Buddhism. All the per-
sonages were invested with a truth of expression
that quite surprised us. The features were ful of
life and animation, the attitudes natural, and the
drapery easy and graceful. You could distinguish at
a glance the nature and quality of the materials re-
presented. The furs were especially gcod. ‘The
various skins of the sheep, the tiger, the fox, the
wolf, &c., were so admirably rendered, that you
felt inchned to go and feel them with the hand,
and ascertain whether, after all, they were not real.
These large bas-reliefs were surrounded with frames,
representing animals and flowers, all in butter, and
all admirable, like the works they enclosed, for
their delicacy of outline and the beauty of their
colouring. On the road which led from one temple
to another, were placed at intervals small bas-
reliefs representing, in miniature, battles, hunting
incidents, nomadic episodes, and views of the most
celebrated Lamaseries of Thibet and Tartary.
Finally, in front of the principal temple, there was
a theatre, which, with its personages and its de-
corations, were all of butter! The dramatis persone
were a foot high, and represented a community of
lamas on their way to solemnize praycr. At first
the stage is empty; then a conch is sounded, and
you see issuing from two doors, two files of minor