SKETCHES IN TIBET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 199, 20 August 1904, Page 9

SKETCHES IN TIBET.

A great amount of interest is centred at the present time in the British expedition, which recently arrived at Lhasa. Tbe one outstanding feature of the country is the religious hold of the lamas on the people. We saw this in the fanatical resistance round Gyangtse and in tbe absolute futility of Colonel Youughusband's attempts to even open up negotiations. But it has been even more plainly demonstrated in the inability to so farget any satisfaction even when at headquarters outside the holy city of Lhasa. It is the outward signs of religious observance which appear to strike the traveller in Tibet almost more than anything else. Religious signs are everywhere. The hideousness or sublimity—according to lhe view one takes —of nature on the Chang, or high plateau, and in other | parts of Tibet is not left to itself. As in the Tyrol and other Catholic countries one sees wayside crosses and picturesque —lines, so in Tibet, only far more fre- < quent, are the huge rook-cut images which are supposed to represent the Buddha, the "chortens"' or monumenLs of a religious character, and inscriptions, large and small, cut in the ioc.es, of prayers and sacred sentences. As one tramps along a Tibetan road, it is said, any stone against which the weary foot stumbles may be found on examination to bear the inscription, "Ora mani padmi, Om" (O! Thou Jewel in the Lotus. <D!), a devout aspiration which, in a very slightly altered form, will be familiar to readers of Sir Edwin Arnold's "Light of Asia.' It is ouiy too evident, however, that the law of Buddha has not "made our Asia mild." as regards Tibet. The practically supreme ruler is the Dalai (Deiai or Talai) Llama. He is assisted in his duties as a temporal ruler by a governor, to whom a great part of his power is delegated. "This governor may be regarded as tbe most powerful man in the country. He again _ assisted by a Chasag, or secretary. . . . Unfortunately, Talai Lamas, who are supposed to come to age at eighteen, almost invariably die before attaining their majority: or, to express it more correctly according to Tibetan ideas, disgusted with the sins of the world, they retire to the mansions of joy." This is Captain Bower's account of the working constitution of Tibet iv church and state. The seat of government is Lhasa, the city which, for attempting to enter. Savage Landor was so barbarously tortured. Ever since the days of Marco Polo, who entered Tibet in the fifteenth century as the envoy of Venice. Tibet has been famed as the very nursery of Eastern magic. Marco Polo tells in his book of travels weird stories of magic wrought before his eyes and those of his companions at the table of a personage whom lie calls the Khan. It was Marco Ffdo. too. who told of tho "ladder trick" and so earned for himself the reputation of a splendid liar through twenty generation*, until. early in the nineteenth century, the same ladder trick was performed again and again in India aud was circumstantially recorded by Dr. Norman McLeod. Psychologists of a material bent explain many of these marvels nowadays by hypnotic suggesl ion, but niavy Western followers of Buddhist oecultifin still associate Tibet with the graat Mahatmas.

How far the sublimely intellectual cult ] of Gautama's stricter followers corres- j ponds with the practical fetkhism of the Tibetans may. perhaps, be gathered from iVlr Knight's account oi the ceremonies which he was fortunate enough to witness at Himis. One of the most striking features of the whole day's celebration was its remarkable resemblance here aud there to the ancient ceremonial ot the Catholic Church, a resemblance which has led many pious persons, >imv Marco Polo's first account, to trace in these proceedings the handiwork oi Satan. It is also curious to notice the clo*« parallelism between this and the extant accounts of some of the grosser "miracle plays" of mediaeval Europe. After a long account of the preliminaries. Mr Knight proceeds: I'nder a canopy borne by attendants walked a fall form in beautiful silk robes, wearing a large mask representing a benign and peaceful face. As he advanced, men and boys. dressed a* abbots and acolytes of the Church of Rome, prostrated themselves before him. ami adored him with intoning and pleasing chanting. He was followed by six other ii—shs, who were, treated with similar respect. These seven deilied l>e-ing-s drew themselves in n line .... and received the adora-tiou of several

Much bravery has been shown by our Indian troops in pushing on against the obstimete resistance offered by the Tibetans, la one particular instance a village near Gvamnse gave exceptional trouble, and it was roisolved to take it at all haza'ds The Ghoor-is therefore surrouuded the place, and a party of Sdchs belonging to the 32nd Pioneers dashed forward to blow the gateway in with guncotton amid a regular hail of bullets from the houses on both sides. The LanceNaik iLanee-Corporal) who led the party was promoted to Naik for his gallantry, but did not live ion"- to enjoy his honour, for he was killed next day in _ attack upon another stronghold. Our sketch of the Sikhs at the gateway is taken from a picture drawn by Ma-. W. H. Koekoek, the special artist of the ••Illustrated London News," from material supplied him by Lieut. Rybot, an oUieer oi the expedition.

processions of masked figures, some of abbots, and others beast headed, or having the faces of devils. . . . Throughout the day, even during the above solemn acts of worship, certain I—nas masked as conrie devils performed all maimer of buffoonery, . . . bursting into peals of insane laughter each time that one played some monkey trick on another. Again there came a change. The solemn chanting ceased, and then rushed on tbe scene a crowd of wan shapes,

almost naked, with but- a few dark rags about them, as if tirey were slavering with cold. They wrang their hands despairingly and rushed about in a confused way, as if lost, starting from each other in terror when they met, sometimes feeling about them v—ih their outstretched hands like blind men, and all the while whistling in long drawn votes which rose and fell like a strong wind on the hills. . . . Tbe sadden onrushing of these wildly whistling shapes occurred at frequent intervals during the ceremony. The change from one phase of this curious mummery to another was always startlingly abrupt. One never knew when some peaceful amthem and stately dance of holy tig—res would be suddenly interrupted by the clashing discord of cymbals and trumpets and the whirling torrents of shrieking bends. At one period of the ceremony a holy man with an archbishop's niitre on his head advanced, to the beautiful chanting of men and boys, the baiises. trebles, and tenors taking suecessiwe parts in solo and chorus. .. . This holy man blessed a goblet of water by laying his hands on it and intoning some prayer or charm. Then he sprinkled the water >'n all directions, and the defeated demons stayed their shrieking, dancing, aad infernal music, and gradually crept, out of the arena, and no sound was heard for a time but the sweet singing of tbr- holy choir. Probably no better suggestion of the general character of Tibatan religion could be given in an equaTly short space than the foregoing: and, remembering that the Tibetan people are quite exceptionally represented by their religion, this ample quotation may be allowed to pass as a sufficient sketch of the people. For tho rest, they, like their country, are exceptional in every way. Where among other Asiatics lasts bv wives share one husband, several Tibetan husbands share one wife. In physique there, is a wider variety of type, app—renst'y, tiian can be found in other equalid areas of that continent, the variety depending not upon locality any more than upon caste. The animals of the country are peculiar, led by the famous, shaggycoated, horse-tailed ox c—led the yak. Lastly, it most not be focgotten that polo, probably named after the Venetian traveller, is of Tibet—n origin, and i-l may be an omen, as it certainly is characteristic, that the British aiy_t*ed the sport long ago.

open for the wonderful sights of this wonderful land. We were _o*t kindly welcomed at the. wharf by Hia Worship the Mayor ot Auckland, some of the leadiug citizens of the city, and a number of members of the Christian Endeavour .Society. Of the conventions that I have attended, the welcome 1 have received, and the generous hospitality of the people, 1 cannot write at length, but can only say that they were beyoud all expectations and deserts, and that the Christian Endeavour movement which I came to promote as far as possible 1 found everywhere in a nourish—g and hopeful condition. These articles, however, are not to deal with this, but with the people, the scenery, the economic conditions of this new paradise of the Southern llemisphere. Here is a nation of eight hundred thousand people occupying, perhaps, the best, picturesque, fertile, and resourceful islands in the world, and yet it is scarcely 150 years since settlement began iv good earnest. To be sure, the iirst scheme for the colonisation was initiated in I—!s, and some heroic and devoted missionaries laboured to convert the Maoris in the first quarter of the Last century. At lirst, aside from the missionaries, much of the flotsam aud jetsam of humanity came to these shores. The struggle with the native cannibals was fierce and unremitting, and even in 1842 the white population numbered only about 10,000 people. Two generations have passed, aud what a marvellous change Here is one of the most prosperous States iv all the world, with a wealth which is exceeded by only one or two countries in the world, a country where education is universal, and where free schools abound, a country with a commerce of over one hundred millioua of dollars a year: a country with a million and a half of cattle upon a thousand hills: aud more than twenty millions of sheep, with pasturage enough left to furnish wool to cover every back in the -world. Here is a country with more than two thousand miles of railway, more than 1000 post oflices, and nearly 1000 telegraph stations, so that Xew Zealand now stands lirst amongst the countries of the world as regards the proportion of population to each post office, the figures b.~i<ig one post office for every 500 inhabitants. That this is by no means an illiterate people is pioved by the fact that every man, woman, and child in Xew Zealand every year receives more than fifty letters, more than twenty newspapers. and as many more books and parcels, while four telegrams per capita shows that steam is not fast enough for till the people, and so they use the lightning to forward their messages. As is well known. New Zealand consists of two islands, the North and the South, and one small one called Stewart Island. Of the wonders of these islands, of their smoking and snow-capped hills, of their mighty geysers, and their fertile fields, of their kindly people, and their most interesting economic conditions, 1 will speak in future articles. As I came first to this wonderland fhat lies beueath the Southern Cross, I felt like addressing it as the Maoris addressed the spirit of the new land when 500 years ago they lirst landed on her shores: "I arrive where an unknown earth is under my feet, I arrive where a new sky is atiove nic. I arrive: ,«t this 'b'.irdv a'T'eStiug '>la,- ■>' t<rr lii p. o spirit of :.bc Eartht the stranger numbly offers his heart to thee."