# Beasts, Men and Gods

BEASTS, MEN AND GODS
BY FERDINAND OSSENDOWSKI Officier d'Academie Française
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
Copyright, 1922 By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
All Rights Reserved
| First Printing | Aug., 1922 |
| Second Printing | Sept., 1922 |
| Third Printing | Oct., 1922 |
| Fourth Printing | Nov., 1922 |
| Fifth Printing | Dec., 1922 |
| Sixth Printint | Dec., 1922 |
| Seventh Printing | Dec., 1922 |
| Eighth Printing | Jan., 1923 |
| Ninth Printing | Jan., 1923 |
Printed in the United States of America
EXPLANATORY NOTE
When one of the leading publicists in America, Dr. Albert Shaw of the Review of Reviews, after reading the manuscript of Part I of this volume, characterized the author as "The Robinson Crusoe of the Twentieth Century," he touched the feature of the narrative which is at once most attractive and most dangerous; for the succession of trying and thrilling experiences recorded seems in places too highly colored to be real or, sometimes, even possible in this day and generation. I desire, therefore, to assure the reader at the outset that Dr. Ossendowski is a man of long and diverse experience as a scientist and writer with a training for careful observation which should put the stamp of accuracy and reliability on his chronicle. Only the extraordinary events of these extraordinary times could have thrown one with so many talents back into the surroundings of the "Cave Man" and thus given to us this unusual account of personal adventure, of great human mysteries and of the political and religious motives which are energizing the "Heart of Asia."
My share in the work has been to induce Dr. Ossendowski to write his story at this time and to assist him in rendering his experiences into English.
Lewis Stanton Palen.
CONTENTS
PART I. DRAWING LOTS WITH DEATH :
| CHAPTER | | PAGE |
| I. | Into the Forests | 3 |
| II. | The Secret of My Fellow Traveler | 10 |
| III. | The Struggle for Life | 16 |
| IV. | A Fisherman | 21 |
| V. | A Dangerous Neighbor | 22 |
| VI. | A River in Travail | 26 |
| VII. | Through Soviet Siberia | 31 |
| VIII. | Three Days on the Edge of a Precipice | 34 |
| IX. | To the Sayans and Safety | 40 |
| X. | The Battle of the Seybi | 49 |
| XI. | The Barrier of Red Partisans | 58 |
| XII. | In the Country of Eternal Peace | 62 |
| XIII. | Mysteries, Miracles and a New Fight | 71 |
| XIV. | The River of the Devil | 79 |
| XV. | The March of Ghosts | 85 |
| XVI. | In Mysterious Tibet | 90 |
| PART II. THE LAND OF DEMONS |||
| XVII. | Mysterious Mongolia | 101 |
| XVIII. | The Mysterious Lama Avenger | 113 |
| XIX. | Wild Chahars | 122 |
| XX. | The Demon of Jagisstai | 126 |
| XXI. | The Nest of Death | 136 ​ |
| XXII. | Among the Murderers | 140 |
| XXIII. | On a Volcano | 147 |
| XXIV. | A Bloody Chastisement | 155 |
| XXV. | Harassing Days | 160 |
| XXVI. | The Band of White Hunghutzes | 173 |
| XXVII. | Mystery in a Small Temple | 177 |
| XXVIII. | The Breath of Death | 182 |
| PART III. THE STRAINING HEART OF ASIA |||
| XXIX. | On the Road of Great Conquerors | 193 |
| XXX. | Arrested! | 208 |
| XXXI. | Traveling by "Urga" | 211 |
| XXXII. | An Old Fortune Teller | 218 |
| XXXIII. | "Death from the White Man Will Stand Behind You" | 222 |
| XXXIV. | The Horror of War! | 227 |
| XXXV. | In the City of Living Gods, 30,000 Buddhas and 60,000 Monks | 232 |
| XXXVI. | A Son of Crusaders and Privateers | 238 |
| XXXVII. | The Camp of Martyrs | 250 |
| XXXVIII. | Before the Face of Buddha | 256 |
| XXXIX. | "The Man with a Head like a Saddle" | 267 |
| PART IV. THE LIVING BUDDHA |||
| XL. | In the Blissful Garden of a Thousand Joys | 273 |
| XLI. | The Dust of Centuries | 282 |
| XLII. | The Books of Miracles | 287 |
| XLIII. | The Birth of the Living Buddha | 290 ​ |
| XLIV. | A Page in the History of the Present Living Buddha | 292 |
| XLV. | The Vision of the Living Buddha of May 17, 1921 | 295 |
| PART V. MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES—THE KING OF THE WORLD |||
| XLVI. | The Subterranean Kingdom | 299 |
| XLVII. | The King of the World before the Face of God | 307 |
| XLVIII. | Reality or Religious Fantasy? | 310 |
| XLIX. | The Prophecy of the King of the World in 1890. | 313 |
| Glossary | Glossary | 317 |
| Index | Index | 321 |
There are times, men and events about which History alone can record the final judgments; contemporaries and individual observers must only write what they have seen and heard. The very truth demands it.
Titus Livius.
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