LITTLE KNOWN COUNTRY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21138, 13 June 1940, Page 9

LITTLE KNOWN COUNTRY

LIFE IN TIBET SOME STRANGE CUSTOMS Mr H. Knight, a missionary from the China Inland Mission, who is on furlough in New Zealand, in an interview given to a Taranaki paper throws some interesting light on conditions in Tibet on the border of j which country he had his headquarters for a period. Mr Knight said:— “The Tibetans are much inferior to the Chinese as a race, although 1 i was not able to see enough of them j to form any really lasting impres- | sions. However, as a result of j their moral laxity, they are dying j out as a race. They have no eduI cation and apparently no desire for j it. They are kind and hospitable ! and shbw a decided interest in the | manner and customs of the outside | world but generally they are very ! childish. In two dwellings I visited | holding positions of honour were a f roomful of clocks, all displaying an j amazing assortment of times, and I about six or seven stoves, none of I which were lighted, their presence j merely serving as decorations. They j are definitely a decadent race. The people on the whole are nomadic and wander from place to place sleeping in small, crude tents. Ruled By Priests "Tibet is controlled in civil, miliI tary and every other way by the ; every tent. : one male member of each family ' joins, virtually rule the land. They • receive all taxes and consequently j live very well. The whole system ) is very similar to the old English I feudal type of government, even ! down to the land tenure. In theory, ! celibacy forms part of the priesthood, ! but in actual practice transgressions are frequent. "In contrast to the pomp and ceremony of a Chinese funeral, the last rites of Tibetans are very strange. Believing as they do in reincarnation, they acknowledge the eagle as the returned spirit of a deceased friend, i Accordingly, when a death occurs, taking the stand that in life they were usually too poor to give their

friends much in the way of worldly goods, the corpse is carried to some ■ mountain fastness and left for the eagles to feed on. Thus some recompense is paid to the ‘returned’ friends. Other methods of disposing of a body are by cremation or by throwing the corpse into a river. It is through this latter reason that although fish are plentiful, Tibetans will not eat a particle of this food. Great Fighters “The whole education of the average native consists of the Buddhist classics and here again the real | meaning is not properly assimilated, but merely learnt by heart. Time has proved that the Tibetan is a, a great fighter and horseman. In the great communistic drive to the northwest some years ago these irregulars [ought with tenacity and courage against the invaders. “Of the few national pastimes ] the custom of holding fairs, which are usually of a religious nature, is predominant. When the head ' priest or dalai lama dies an immediate ! search is made for the reincarnated 1 , spirit in the body of a baby born at the same moment as the death oc- j! curred. One method of selecting the heir is for the infant to be sur- J rounded with numerous articles, one or two of which have belonged to the j deceased dalai lama. If the child , auly picks up one of these particular I articles in question, he is claimed to have “recognised” it and accordingly is firm favourite for the election to j the office of dalai lama.” ~ ==