Himalayan Footprint Puzzle

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 145, 22 June 1939, Page 4

Himalayan Footprint Puzzle

“ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN” The reported discovery of mysterious footprints in the Ruahines is a remind* er of an amusing controversy which was waged for many weeks in the London Times in 1937 over the so-called “abominable snowmen” of the Himalayas and Tibet. While it lasted, the discussion was quite as vigorous as that provoked by the Loch Ness Monster, remarks the New Zealand Herald. The Tibetans and neighbouring peoples have a persistent belief that their high mountains are inhabited by ferocious semi-human creatures, some of great size, with shaggy hair and feet turned backward. The larger kind is said to devour yaks and both are capable of killing and eating men who fall into their clutches. Naturally such things can easily be identified by their tracks in the snow. Explorer’s Report The subject was raised by an explorer, Mr. Ronald Kaulback, in a series of articles on a journey he had made | from Upper Burma in 1935 into Eastern Tibet and back again. He said that at a height of IC,oooft. he came upon five sets of tracks leading down the side of a valley through the snow “at an | almost impossible angle.” They were not completely clear, but looked exactly as if made by bare-footed men. Mr Kaulback discounted the idea that they were the tracks of bears, as he knew of uone in tho region. Two of the coolies who accompanied liiiu thought that the marks were those of snow-leopards, and the other two attributed them to “mountain men.” One said he had seen such a creature and described it os like a man, whiteskinned, with long hair on tho head, shoulders and arms. Welcome to Europe! Mr. Kaulback immediately became involved in a discussion with readers of The Times, ono of whom, Wing-Corn mander E. B. Beauman, stated that in 1931, at a height of 14,000 ft. near the sources of the Ganges, he had seen similar tracks. Other correspondents attributed them to certain species of large monkeys and to 1 ‘an unknown relative of the giant panda.” _\ r r. Henry Newman, a journalist, intervened to claim credit for coining the name “abominable snowmen” after talking with porters of the first Everest | expedition at Darjeeling. He stated | that it was a translation of a Tibetan expression that they used.

I The Times then felt bound to express its own views in a facetious sub-leader, in which it said that after so many j travellers’ tales it would not be long : before someone brought back a snowman in the flesh. “However abominable, he will be welcome,” it remarked. “We are getting a bit tired of each other’s company in Europe; we should be glad of a change.” A Hardy Ascetic This did not check the flow of opinions. A captain in the Royal Engineers held out for a human origin. He said that on a 17,000 ft. pass in Ladakh in 1930 he met a Hindu mendicant, clad in a loin-cloth, who stated in perfect English that he was an M.A. of an English university and a member of the Middle Temple, but had retired from the world and was on a pilgrimage for tho good of his soul. The captain suggested that “barefoot prints of hardy ascetics” might account for a good deal. The “abominable snowmen” were