Directors Of Ceremonies.

storms . On his return to England he searched the records of travel throughout the world and for all time , beginning with Jabal , 4000 B . C ., and ending with all tents of modern nations . We may remark that his volume contains much matter of great interest and curiosity to our brother Masons ; for instance , the account ofthe tabernacle , or sacred tent , and the description Father Gerbillon gives of a tribe on the borders of China : —

" The Buraets are considered a holy race , as there was hardly a Buraet family of which there was not one member at least iu the priesthood . These priests are called' Lamas , ' and their chief , ' Khamba-Lama , ' but the high-priest of all the Buraet priesthood , is the Dalai Lama of Tibet . " The inside of their tents displays a whimsical association of civilization and rudeness . The fire-place is nothing more than a hole dug in the middle of the apartment , with the felt mats and cushions on which they sleep , ranged round it .

" An object , which from religious associations seemed more deserving our attention , was a sort of altar which stood against the wall of the tent opposite the door . It was a kind of double chest , carefully finished , the lower portion of which was about four feet long , by about three high , and the same in breadth - . while the upper with the same length and height , was considerably less wide . The hinder sides of both were precisely in a line , so that the greater breadth of the- lower chest left it to project beyond the other , and form a sort of table in front . Several

drawers were contained in the lower chest , in which all the requisites for the performance of religious worship were deposited during journeys . A highly-coloured painting hung down upon the front of the upper compartment and concealed it entirely . It was a representation of ' Chigemune , ' the principal Burkhan , or saint of the Mongols , sitting as if engaged in prayer , with his legs drawn under him . Upon the table before this figure , sis round bronze cups , of about an inch in diameterwere ranged at equal distances ; they were filled with waterand a

, , mirror , also round , aud of the same metal , lay among them , This apparatus is used by the Lamas or priests for a purpose which is compared by the Russians to the consecratiou of water according to the Greek rite , but it is more probably a symbol of the transmission of spiritual endowments . The figure of the Burkhan is held opposite to the mirror , a stream of water being at the same time poured over it into the little dishes , which in this maimer receive the image of the divinity along with the water .

" The Khamba-Lama informed M . Erman that the worship of Chigemune followed here is exactly like the Buddhism of India , but that it has no connexion whatever with the religion of Fob . ' He named , as an object of then . ' worship , the mother of Chigemune , but also said that the Burkhans , whose images they set up iu the temples , are like the saints iu the Greek church , only teachers and instructive examples of men . "

Our readers cannot fail to discover in this a rude transmission , through so many centuries , of the ark of the covenant ; and ingenious speculation might be made that here was one of the settlements of the ten tribes . Had Father Gerbillon been a Mason , we think it not unlikel y he mi g ht have made discoveries of great interest ; ancl we trust the hint will not be lost by travellers . The greater portion of the volume is of universal interest ; and at the close there is some valuable information with regard to encamping an

arm }* , accompanied by sanitary instructions , at this time of importance , seeing that for a considerable period a large army will be needed in India , to whom tent life is a matter of certainty . The book is enriched by several spirited engravings ; and the tents invented by Bro . Rhodes , which have received the approval of every one of the continental governments , are fully described . "We believe it is the first book devoted to the subject that has appeared in any language .