The Hutuktu of Narabanchi related the following to me, when Ivisited him in his monastery in the beginning of 1921:

"When the King of the World appeared before the Lamas, favored ofGod, in this monastery thirty years ago he made a prophecy for thecoming half century. It was as follows:

"'More and more the people will forget their souls and care abouttheir bodies. The greatest sin and corruption will reign on theearth. People will become as ferocious animals, thirsting for theblood and death of their brothers. The 'Crescent' will grow dimand its followers will descend into beggary and ceaseless war. Itsconquerors will be stricken by the sun but will not progress upwardand twice they will be visited with the heaviest misfortune, whichwill end in insult before the eye of the other peoples. The crownsof kings, great and small, will fall . . . one, two, three, four,five, six, seven, eight. . . . There will be a terrible battleamong all the peoples. The seas will become red . . . the earthand the bottom of the seas will be strewn with bones . . . kingdomswill be scattered . . . whole peoples will die . . . hunger,disease, crimes unknown to the law, never before seen in the world.

The enemies of God and of the Divine Spirit in man will come.

Those who take the hand of another shall also perish. Theforgotten and pursued shall rise and hold the attention of thewhole world. There will be fogs and storms. Bare mountains shallsuddenly be covered with forests. Earthquakes will come. . . .

Millions will change the fetters of slavery and humiliation forhunger, disease and death. The ancient roads will be covered withcrowds wandering from one place to another. The greatest and mostbeautiful cities shall perish in fire . . . one, two, three. . . .

Father shall rise against son, brother against brother and motheragainst daughter. . . . Vice, crime and the destruction of bodyand soul shall follow. . . . Families shall be scattered. . . .

Truth and love shall disappear. . . . From ten thousand men oneshall remain; he shall be nude and mad and without force and theknowledge to build him a house and find his food. . . . He willhowl as the raging wolf, devour dead bodies, bite his own flesh andchallenge God to fight. . . . All the earth will be emptied. Godwill turn away from it and over it there will be only night anddeath. Then I shall send a people, now unknown, which shall tearout the weeds of madness and vice with a strong hand and will leadthose who still remain faithful to the spirit of man in the fightagainst Evil. They will found a new life on the earth purified bythe death of nations. In the fiftieth year only three greatkingdoms will appear, which will exist happily seventy-one years.

Afterwards there will be eighteen years of war and destruction.

Then the peoples of Agharti will come up from their subterraneancaverns to the surface of the earth.'"* * * * * *Afterwards, as I traveled farther through Eastern Mongolia and toPeking, I often thought:

"And what if . . . ? What if whole peoples of different colors,faiths and tribes should begin their migration toward the West?"And now, as I write these final lines, my eyes involuntarily turnto this limitless Heart of Asia over which the trails of mywanderings twine. Through whirling snow and driving clouds of sandof the Gobi they travel back to the face of the Narabanchi Hutuktuas, with quiet voice and a slender hand pointing to the horizon, heopened to me the doors of his innermost thoughts:

"Near Karakorum and on the shores of Ubsa Nor I see the huge,multi-colored camps, the herds of horses and cattle and the blueyurtas of the leaders. Above them I see the old banners of JenghizKhan, of the Kings of Tibet, Siam, Afghanistan and of IndianPrinces; the sacred signs of all the Lamaite Pontiffs; the coats ofarms of the Khans of the Olets; and the simple signs of the northMongolian tribes. I do not hear the noise of the animated crowd.

The singers do not sing the mournful songs of mountain, plain anddesert. The young riders are not delighting themselves with theraces on their fleet steeds. . . . There are innumerable crowds ofold men, women and children and beyond in the north and west, asfar as the eye can reach, the sky is red as a flame, there is theroar and crackling of fire and the ferocious sound of battle. Whois leading these warriors who there beneath the reddened sky areshedding their own and others' blood? Who is leading these crowdsof unarmed old men and women? I see severe order, deep religiousunderstanding of purposes, patience and tenacity . . . a new greatmigration of peoples, the last march of the Mongols. . . ."Karma may have opened a new page of history!

And what if the King of the World be with them?

But this greatest Mystery of Mysteries keeps its own deep silence.

GLOSSARYAgronome.--Russian for trained agriculturalist.

Amour sayn.--Good-bye.

Ataman.--Headman or chief of the Cossacks.

Bandi.--Pupil or student of theological school in the Buddhistfaith.

Buriat.--The most civilized Mongol tribe, living in the valley ofthe Selenga in Transbaikalia.

Chahars.--A warlike Mongolian tribe living along the Great Wall ofChina in Inner Mongolia.

Chaidje.--A high Lamaite priest, but not an incarnate............