TIBETAN SCENERY.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 98, 22 October 1904, Page 9

TIBETAN SCENERY.

The Times of last Saturday contained a singularly vivid and attractive picture of Tibetan, soenry, which, if the land ever becomes open to travellers, should give the wandering Briton a new objective for his pilgrimages. 2f«ar Nagartee the- expedi-. tion passed the Yu-teo or Turquoise- Lake, the sacred lake of Tibet, which haa been seen less often even than Lhassa, by European eyes. It consists of an outer circle of water enclosing an island wkich contains a large inner lake. Its waters are pure turquoise-blue, and around it are green slopes of hills covered with forget-me-nots and wild roses. "The mass and colour of the purple distance is Scotland at her best ; at one's feet the water is like the Lake of Geneva. But the tattered outline of the beach, with its projecting lines of needle rocks, its wide white curving ssandspits, its jagged islets, its precipitous spurs, and, above all, the mysterious tarns struug one beyond another into the heart of the hills — all these are the Yu-tso's own .... and always on the horizon are the everlasting icefields of the Himalayas bitterly ringing the sun." Near the lake is the monastery of Samding, the residence of a strange woman incarnation — the Diamond-headed Sow. The present deity is a little girl of seven, and the sanctity of the monastery was scrupulously respected by the expedition, since ifc was there that Chandra Dass was nursed on his famous journey to Lhassa. THE BALKANS. The bitterness between Italians and Austrians — always latent, though of late years much suppressed— has recently broken out again. Ihe causes of quarrel are some oppressions alleged to have been suffered -in the Italian Tyrol, and a suspicion that the Austrians intend to occupy Albania, which the Italians mark out as their share whenever the Balkans come to be divided. The Italian Government is, of course ", quite correct in its attitude, but the press and some popular leaders have used language^ which has provoked the Austrian Government to the unusual step of issuing through its inspired journal,' the Provincial Correspondence, a note of warning. It denies the existence even of "tension'" between them to be "monstrous." In regard to differences in the Balkans, it is only needful, it remarks, to say that affairs in that region are controlled by all the European Powers. The serious organs of public opinion are therefore ivited to "make a clean sweep of all such, injurious rumours." There is some fire under all this smoke, but it must be very little, as Italy cannot contend with Austria plus Germany. It is to be noted that a kind of irritable suspicion has been displayed in Vienna ever since tie King of Italy married the Montenegrin Princess. The Montags Revue, also demi-official, traces the agitation to Montenegro and to anti-Aus-trian intrigues in the Balkans, and there are reports that Vienna regards the new Italian Commandant of Gendarmerie in Macedonia with disfavour, and has asked the Svdtan to strengthen the Austrian element in that force. PRANCE AND THE VATICAN. Mgr. Gcay, Bishop of Laval, has made his submission to the Pope. He has quitted his diocese without consulting the civil authority, has repaired to Rome, and will, it is said, be appointed to a canonry. The incident is much discussed in France, where one party quotes it as evidence that, the civil power cannot, whatever it does, release Roman Catholic ecclesiastics from their obedience to the Papacy, while another retorts that this is the very reason why Papal sovereignty can no longer be tolerated in France. The imperium in imperio must, it is said, be suppressed. M. de- Lanessan, who was formerly a Minister, even argues that the incident proves that there is danger in delay, as all the forces of Clericalism are evidently rallying to the defence of the Holy See. Is not that discussion a little superfluous? If a majority of Frenchmen approve cue Concordat, the Government will be powerless to abolish it ; and if a majority disapprove it, all the Clericals in France will but waste their labour in defending it. The imperium in imperio, if it exists at all, rests only on opinion. AN INCAPABLE PRINCE. Prince George of Greece left Crete on 30th August on a tour to the European capitals, from which it is supposed that he will not return to the island. He has proved himself an incompetent High Commissioner, and after drawing all power into his own hands, mastering the local Parliament, and virtually suppressing the press, has shown himself - incapable of using the authority thus acquired. The resulting discontent has reached almost the point of revolution, the Prince admits his failure, and with his people advocates union with Greece. It must come to that 'ii the end ; but Crete seems to require in its own interests an interregnum d ( unng which a wise and strong administrator appointed by Whs Powers, a man like Baron Kallay or Lora Cromer, could once more make the law supreme, remove discontent, and restore the public .fortune. The period of his rule need not be more than ten years, and it should l>e- prefaced by a definite promise that at the end of that time Crete would be permitted to choose between a continued autonomy and union with Greece. At present the subjection of the island to the caprices and intrigues of the Parliament of Athens would almost certainly result in an anarchy wliich would again call for the interference of the Powers. Po&sibly the Cretan representatives, as The Times suggests, might strengthen Lxiai Parliament; but what is wanted just now is good administration, not debate.