Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-01
NATIONAL lNTELLIGENCER.
NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.


ny, Tibet, AND CHINA, during The gears 1874 1S45,
and 1916. By NJ Hue, Missionary Priest Of The oongrs-
cation Of 81. Lazarus. . vols. New York Appleton
Co. 1852. 0f4 @
We have been greatly interested in the perusal of
these volumes For once in our life we have read
book Of travels possessing the charm Of novelty.
European tourists have ransacked the territories of
Japhet until the announcement of book of travels
in 81 that important and influential quarter of the
globe" published of course at the earnest solcita
ton of partial friends" has come to be as fat STALE
and commonplace to us as startling steamboat
explosion on our Western waters, or as an " awful
railroad accident" in the State Of New York But
our good natured and imperturbable missionary
priest carries through Monaghan deserts and far
billy regions" where before no European foot has
ever trodden. Nor are we less pleased with our
companion than the wild and strange lands through
which he conducts us. Shakespeare was not more
certainly born to write tragedies, Napoleon to lead
armies, or "Bozzy' to write the biography of the
sage" Dr. johnson, than was nj. Hue to be mis-
sionary priest in what is, we suspect, rather mag
niloquently entitled The Apostolical Vcariate Of
Mongolia" Every where on the route through this
apostolical domain we meet with stirring incidents
by !" food and field" hair-breadth escapes perlous
passages over mountain heights, and weary marches
through deserts Of rolling sand we come in contact
with bandithorsemen- veritable centaurs of the
old mythology, living on horseback, and roaming
through the Land Of Grass" as the natives call
Mongolia; we see too the Mongol shepherd under
his tent, the Chinese in his bamboo house, and the
Lama of Thibet in his picturesque and romantic
monastery. The religious rites and ceremonial of
]. anasl are now for the first time described to
in detail wh. the manners and customs of oriental
and semi barba GUS Life pass in review before us as
we tn avsl by the way, or sojourn beneath some
Tartar tie ut, or lodge by night in Chinese inn
What most strikes us in our companion, the good
priest is the singular union in the man OF the most
unstrained and natural boahommie with the shrewd-
ness and acupen of pr actsed sharper dealing with
some miserable " funke " HIS heart IS open to
receive any marvellous ia lie of Lama priest while
he recounts the miracles which Satan enables the
followers Of Buddha to peri orm with childike ac
quiescence and transparent candor which almost
rival the infantine and inn ocent creduity of old
Herodotus-old in his antqui ty, but very child in
his habits of thought and t, .eling. And yet NJ.
Hue can drive as good bargai as any fancy-stock
obber in Wall street. and to the roguish Chinese
broker who essays cheat him thousand sapecks
by the mysterious computations of the rec
oning board of the moneychangers The returned Cali
fornian Yankee though he be, is teeced by s'lying
weights in commercial metropolis tut the cute priest
of the congregation of ST. Lazarus conrve to sell his silver
above the price current and exacted of thu, Chinese mani
pulator Souanans the last sapeck Of his reckoning
And SO too when cunning Rats endeavt red to extort
money from the missionary because he cou produce
passport from the Mandarin they found hat they had
caught Tartar so easily wheeded as most of that
simple race who fall into the clutches of these willy and
extortionate knayes.
The French Catholic missions in China ass well known,
we're once the most ourishng under the control of the
jesuit Captain General and the Holy See. Under the
mild and tolerant sway of the first Emperor Of the Tartar
Mantchoo dynasty the zeaous disciples OF Loyoia multi
piled their proeytes without let hindrance but during
reign Of K,n-sxAnsr eS> s the Tartar Mantchoo
line the goodly heritage" of the faithful in China
desoated destroyed by civil Prosecutions Pho
missionaries were driven out or put 10 deaih, and Tor
long time the enterprise Of Chinese missions seemed for
saken until the French Lazaris once more reoccuped
the field howevera formerly settling down in the very
heart of the empire but reasembng the scattered con-
of their predecessors the outskirts Of the Celestial
Empire north Of the Great WALL where in little village,
by 81 Wang the Vicar Apostolic fixed his seat and
collected Christian community Living thus the
very confines q China and Mongolia the Lazarists
often brought into intercourse with the nomadc people of
the Land Of Grass until in 1912, says author the
Holy See crowned wishes by erecting Mongolia into
vieariate apostolic" and the object Of NJ Hue's pere
grinations through this wide territory to study the
character and manners OF
81 ascertain if possible, the extent and limits Of the
vicarate" Every good pastor must know something
about the quality Of his flock and the size Of his sheep
fold Accordingly the Lanare missionary in the spring
Of 1914 proceeded upon his diocesan knowing that
the Tarars despise all |" black men," 1.-THE title given to
any in Mongolia who speaks Of religion without being
enrolled among the Lama priests the Pench missionary
donned the Of Thibetan Lama to wit a long
yellow robe, fastened by red grde and FIVE gilt buttons
with violet velvet collar, and yellow cap tipped with
red roete. He also thought it "eKpedent" from the
timeof this investiture, to give up the of and
toscco thinking suppose that the weak consciences
ofthe heather might be prematurey disguised by such
christian habits The Apostle Paul gave up the use of
meat that he might not Offend his brethren the apos
tolic vicar Of Mongolia, to be outdone gave M his
tobacco and pale Sherry When occasion his host
brought him smoking Of the hot wine 50 much in
favor among the Chinese and Mongoans he declined the
tempting offer, as he tells US with the observation You
know that good Lamas abstain from smoking and drink
ing" Nj. Hue accompanied in his parochal vista
tons by NJ CADET Of tbs Lazarite mission and nv b;s
major-domo and camel-iriver, Samdadchiemba ca,o
chumen Of the mission school, who was neither Chinese
Tartar nor a Thibetan, but little Of all threo =
Dchiahour." Somdadchiembs is quite character in NJ
HUGS graphic narrative In his physYue he bore unms
taxable traces Of his Mongo afintes he had a deecv
bronzed complexion, great mouth in a straight line
across his face nsolently turned up like pug
monkeys two little eyes that twinkled between lids en-
trely without eye-lashes and forehead with the skin