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Devadatta. Here was the wicked woman who accused the Master of
impurity, all confounded; here was the teaching in the Deer-park;
the miracle that stunned the fire-worshippers; here was the
Bodhisat in royal state as a prince; the miraculous birth; the
death at Kusinagara, where the weak disciple fainted; while there
were almost countless repetitions of the meditation under the
Bodhi tree; and the adoration of the alms-bowl was everywhere. In
a few minutes the Curator saw that his guest was no mere bead-
telling mendicant, but a scholar of parts. And they went at it
all over again, the lama taking snuff, wiping his spectacles, and
talking at railway speed in a bewildering mixture of Urdu and
Tibetan. He had heard of the travels of the Chinese pilgrims, Fu-
Hiouen and Hwen-Tsiang, and was anxious to know if there was any
translation of their record. He drew in his breath as he turned
helplessly over the pages of Beal and Stanislas Julien. "Tis all
here. A treasure locked.' Then he composed himself reverently to
listen to fragments hastily rendered into Urdu. For the first
time he heard of the labours of European scholars, who by the
help of these and a hundred other documents have identified the
Holy Places of Buddhism. Then he was shown a mighty map, spotted
and traced with yellow. The brown finger followed the Curator's
pencil from point to point. Here was Kapilavastu, here the Middle
Kingdom, and here Mahabodhi, the Mecca of Buddhism; and here was
Kusinagara, sad place of the Holy One's death. The old man bowed
his head over the sheets in silence for a while, and the Curator
lit another pipe. Kim had fallen asleep. When he waked, the talk,
still in spate, was more within his comprehension.

'And thus it was, O Fountain of Wisdom, that I decided to go to
the Holy Places which His foot had trod - to the Birthplace, even
to Kapila; then to Mahabodhi, which is Buddh Gaya - to the
Monastery - to the Deer-park -to the place of His death.'

The lama lowered his voice. 'And I come here alone. For five -
seven - eighteen - forty years it was in my mind that the Old Law
was not well followed; being overlaid, as thou knowest, with
devildom, charms, and idolatry. Even as the child outside said
but now. Ay, even as the child said, with but-parasti.'

'So it comes with all faiths.'

'Thinkest thou? The books of my lamassery I read, and they were
dried pith; and the later ritual with which we of the Reformed
Law have cumbered ourselves - that, too, had no worth to these
old eyes. Even the followers of the Excellent One are at feud on
feud with one another. It is all illusion. Ay, maya, illusion.
But I have another desire' - the seamed yellow face drew within
three inches of the Curator, and the long forefinger-nail tapped
on the table. 'Your scholars, by these books, have followed the
Blessed Feet in all their wanderings; but there are things which
they have not sought out. I know nothing - nothing do I know -

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