The Malborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Saturday, December 10, 1898. "THE FORBIDDEN LAND."

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIII, Issue 288, 10 December 1898, Page 2

The Malborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Saturday, December 10, 1898. "THE FORBIDDEN LAND."

It is now nearly a year ago since there was published m our cablegrams a brief account of the capture and torturing by the Tibetan authorities of a well-known English traveller and author, Mr H. Savage Landor. Mr Landor had set himself a difficult task, namely, the reaching and entering of Lhassa, the anoient capital of Tibet, and a city concerning which, and its inhabitants there, has always been a great amount of mystery. Lhassa being a sacred city to the Buddhists, it is accounted a high crime by the priests for any European or other foreigner to enter it ; indeed, not even Mecca itself, the sacred city of the Mohammedans is less known. In the earlier part of the century, it is true, a French traveller, the Abbe Hue, succeeded m making his -way to Lhassa, of which he wrote an interestiog description, but since then, up to the time of Mr Landor's adventures, Tibet has been a terra incognita to Europeans. At the time the cablegrams were published, detailing the possible tortures inflicted upon Mr Landor, the accounts were much discredited ; but since his return to Europe the traveller has succeeded m convincing the most sceptical that the accounts were not m the least exaggerated. Once safely baok m London, Mr Landor set to work to produce the inevitable book. This has now appeared under the title of " In the Forbidden Land," and has excited much attention m literary and political circles. The appearance of the work js peculiarly opportune at the present moment when there is a strong feeling m India m favor of British annexation of Tibet, as a set off to French designs m South Eastern Asia, but apart from its political interest Mr Landor's volume is of considerable geographical and ethnological value. He has succeeded m solving the mystery of the Great Himalayan lakes, whence originate the great river of Eastern India, the Brahma-pootra, and he also explored and actually traversed the most dangerous of the Tibetan passes, some of which are as much as 16,000 feet above sea level. English papers give long reviews of his book, with most interesting extraots. From the review m the London Daily News we are enabled to give our readers some interesting «< bits" from what is a very expensive, and, to most of our colonists, an inaccessible work. Originally leaving India with a force of some thirty men, Mr Landor found his followers gradually decrease m numbers, through d.eser.

tion, sickness, and other causes, until he was finally left with only two men — one an ex-Indian polioeman, Chandon Sing, the other a ooolie named Mansing. The expoliceman proved a most useful and faithful fellow, and shared with his master the horrible tortures inflicted upon that traveller by the Tibetans. Once through the passes Mr Landor was soon stopped, and ordered to leave the country. He managed to give his oaptors the slip, >ut meeting with an accident on a river had to obtain help, the officials were informed, and Landor and his servants were surrounded by a cowardly host and made captive. His sufferings now began m real earnest. The unfortunate Ohanden Sing was meroilessly flogged, and Landor himself during his interrogation by the officials sent from Lhassa, was struok m the face with a riding crop. Next he was bound and manacled, and a Kupeen, or officer of high rank, having arrived from the capital the unfortunate Englishman was subjeoted to the most fiendish tortures. He was first told he was to be immediately beheaded. He was then fastened to a log on the ground, his legs as wide apart as they oould be stretched, a man gripping him by the hair, and then began the actual torture. Here we may quote from Mr Landor's account : — "An iron bar with a handle of wood bound m red oloth was being made red-hot m a brasier. The Pombo, who had again plaoed something m bia month to produce artificial foaming at the lips, and so to Bhow hia temper, worked himself np into a frenzy. A Lama handed him the implement of torture (the taram), now red-hot, and the Pombo seized it by the handle. ' Ngaghi kin meh taxon !' (' We will burn out your eyes !') oried a ohorus of Lamaß. The Pombo Btrode op to me, brandishing the ghastly implement. I stared at him, but he kept his eyes away from me. He seemed reluotant, but the Lamas around urged him on, lifting the man's arm towards me! 'You have oome to this country to see' (alluding to what I had stated the previous day, viz., that I was a traveller and pilgrim, and only oome to see the oountry). ' This, then, is the punishment for you !' and with these dreadful words the Pombo raised bis arm, and placed the red-hot iron bar parallel to and about an inoh or two from my eye-balls, and all but touching my nose. Instinctively I kept my eyes, tightly closed, but the heat was bo intense that it seemed as if my eyes, the left one especially, were being desicoated, and my nose soorobed. Though the time seemed interminable, I do not think that the heated bar was before my eyes aotually longer than thirty Beoonds or co. Yet it was quite long enough, for, when I lifted my aching eyelids, I saw everything as m a red mist. My left eye wbb frightfully painful, and every few Beoonds it seemed as if something m front of it obsoured its vision. With the right eye I oould still sea fairly well, except that everything, bb I have Baid, looked red instead of its usual colour. The hot iron had been throwa down, and was frizzling on the wet ground a few paoes from me." After that the mazzle of a matchlock was rested on his forehead and the weapon discharged, giving him a bad shock. Then the executioner advanced with his sword :— " The exeoutioner, now dose to me, held the sword with his nervous hands, lifting it high above hia shouldpr. He then brought it down to my neok, which be touched with the blade, to measure the distance, as it were, for a dean, effeotive stroke. Then, drawing baok a step, he qniokly raised the sword again, and struck a blow at me with all hi? might. The sword passed disagree * ably close to my neok, bat did not touch me. I would not flinoh, nor speak, and my demeanour seemed to impress him almost to tha point of frightening him. He beoame reluotant to continue his diabolioal performance ; but the impatience and turbu« lenoe of the crowd were at their highest, and the Lamas nearer to him gesticulated like madmen and urged him on again. As I write tbis, their wild shouts, their bloodthirsty countenances are vividly brought before me. Apparently against his will, the exeoutioner went through the same kind of performance on the other aide of my head, Tbia time the blade paßsed so near that the point oannot have been more than half an inoh or so from my neck*" There had been, it appears, no real intention to execute him. It is usually at the third stroke, he after** wards learned, that a victim is aotually beheaded. Even then his tortures were not at an end. He had to pass the night on a diabolically contrived raok, aud for many days some new device was continually found for inflating agony. It iB no use adding horror to horror, but it must suffice to say that Mr Landor was finally escorted baok to the frontier, and that he bears marks of his longncontinued sufferings that he will carry with him to the grave, After his release Mr Laudor spent some time m the oountry and studied many of the curious customs of the Tibetans. One of these is the peouliar system of polyandry whioh prevails all over Tibec. In Tibet it appears the men greatly outnumber the women, and the consequence is that from time immemorial the onstom prevails of ona woman having* several husbands, the exact contrary of the Mohammedan system of polygamy. Mr Landor handles a delicate subject very cleverly. Here is his description of how the wife manages her many husbands. ' Mr Landor says : — " It must not be inferred from these strange matrimonial laws that jealousy is non«existant m Tibet among both men and women ; trouble does ooaaßionally arise m Tibetan house or tenthold. As, however, the Tibetan woman is clever, she generally contrves to arrange things m a manner oonduoive to peace. When her hO6band haß several brothers, she despatches them on different errands m every direction, to look after yaks or sheep, or to trade. Only one remains, Bad he <s for the time beiDg her husband ; then when another returns he has to leave bia place and become a baohelor, and so on, till all the brothers have, during the year, had an equal period of marital life with their single wife. Divoroe is diffioult m Tibet, and involves endless oomplioationß. I enquired of a Tibetan lady what she would do m case her husband refused to live with her any longer. 'Why did you marry me/ I would say to him, Bhe exclaimed. 'You found me good, beautiful, wise, clever, affeotionate. Now prove that lam not all this!' This modest speech, she thought, would be quite sufficient to bring any husband baok to reason." Mr Landor speaks m high terms of the fertility of the soil, and the fine field offered by the country for cotton growing by Europeans were once the mysterious land opened up to Western civilisation. It is his opinion that the annexation of Tibet by the British would be the easiest possible matter. A few hundred Goorkhas could, he thinks, go right through the country, from end to end, and drive the ill-disciplined, lazy, cowardly, and absurdly armed Tibetan soldiery before them like a flock of sheep. It is possible that the Tibetan Government will be forced to compensate Mr Landor for the tortures their officials inflicted upon him. From what we have read of his book it is evidently a most important and valuable work, giving moat interesting information about people concerning whom so little baa hitherto been known .