Legend Of The Abominable Snowman

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31333, 1 April 1967, Page 5

Legend Of The Abominable Snowman

(Specially written for "The

Press" by KENNETH ANTHONY)

One of the world’s greatest mysteries is the so-called Abominable Snowman, thick set and with long arms, said to inhabit the snowy slopes of the Himalayas, where it is known as the yeti. Several scientific expeditions have tried to track down the elusive yeti—the Russians made a big effort in 1958-59 —but always without success. Nevertheless there are long traditions among the Himalayan peoples of this strange creature, believed to be half man and half beast.

Now the independent state of Bhutan, a mountainous and remote land lying between Tibet and India, has introduced these traditions into the stamp album. A set of

triangular stamps depicts drawings of the yeti taken from old manuscripts and from paintings on the walls of Bhutanese forts.

A Sherpa who claimed to have seen a snowman at a distance of only 25 yards described it to a British explorer in 1951 as sft 6in tall, and covered with reddish brown hair, apart from its face. Tracks believed to have been made by the yeti, suggesting a foot 12in long with four toes, have been photographed in the snow. Sceptics have suggested that all the supposed sightings were in fact bears standing on their hind legs. But after the startling disclosure that the prehistoric coelacanth

draw attention to the mystery, they are unlikely to go 'far towards solving it Different values in the set show four different traditional drawings of the yeti from Bhutanese folklore, and each one is quite different from the rest So if the existence of the Abominable Snowman is ever proved beyond doubt it will be interesting to compare it* appearance with the drawings on the stamps.