Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-01-13
PROF. Won SCHLAGINTWFIT
ON THEBET.
..rrsvels fn.rhfbet,, was ,be

Nons SehlagiatwSit delivered last
levening at Steinway Hall He be-
gan by saying that ave,ye. erroneous
fyiews hadoexisted regarding Thibet,
Humboldt already Trad endea vored
| to correct tbeidea that was formed
| by series of plateaus. Thibet is a
valley running PARALLEL with. the
| Himalayas, and 70 was one OF the
| most interesting valleys upon the
earth. The lowest point lies 5000
| feet above the level Of the sea. The
| westeEnzpart is intersected by the IG-
fdus. The eastern .put j. divided
FROM the western by a ridge or il, 800
feet. In the eastern part are numer-
| Gus lakes, l6 of which contain salt
water. The highest lake. $50 Gyazar
| lies l5,o93 feet, and the lowest 1so
(which means lake, Magnalavi, lies
n ,dl0 feet above the level of the sea.
| The eastern part of Thibet is still as.
good as unexplored- Here resides
| the head of the. Buddhona church.
The western part is better known
1t remains under the political control
| of the Chinese, who are very anxious
to prevent the Europeans from enter
ing the country, especially the prov
ince of Gnori khorsum, as this 1bor-
ders directly on the English posses
sions- For this purpose they have
lined the frontier with a Gordon of
guards, whose duty it is to repulse
every foreigner ana report the fact TO.
Khorsum. AS late as 1850 a Chi
nese guard was beheaded because he
suffered an Englishman in disguise
te penetrate into the.interior This
makes all travel very dangerous.
When Robert and his brother Adolpll
concluded to extend their travels in
to GnOri khorsum they met with i'm
saf.arable difficulties They lack ed
experience. In Milum, a village H.,
265 feet high, they heard that a war
was going on near 1anori khorslm.
fhang Bahadur, the Prime Minister,
or rather Governor, had commenced
the war to gain possession OF an al
most useless piece of land, and Sc
II es of small battles were fought for
this purpose on :, height like that of
Mt. Blanc. This, however, did not
deter our travellers from carrying out
their purpose. They had gained the
Friendship Of an influential native by.
the name of MANI - who concluded
to accompany them. 1t was the
month of June, and the rainy season
had just begun, W hich brought about
most aiaI ming change in the mead
oas. W ant of pasture is most seTi-
otsi Y" felt here; none but horses and
sheep find subsistence here, owing to
the steep decliyities OF the noun
tains. In the beginning of July the
rains subsidized, the SNOW melted rap
idly away, and they set out on Their
voyage with u large caravan, IoiiaN-
I'll by :, large herd uf sheep, each of
" hich carried Il lag OF gram ~ MeiSh-
ihg iron SFto ~ pounds. They PASSED
III" TIA Dhura, II pass L 60 frtf
high; which ia considered it- neutral
by the Chinese, hat by lie English
IA b.iohging to them. From here
they traNersed the Ihunser pass, Ii,~
;s.l feet high. Although this passage
" a. extremely .ifficuit IL was also
exceedingly interesting. Here they
| met with u cold Well AT the height Of
lb $50 feet. Ia Thibei is still "A high
er one, Viz IL ,t.1o feet, " inch iS the
highest in the world. In the Etro-
pean \ lps there il none higher ti,an
Ia, 4Io feet Very interesting is also
the gradual decrease of vegetation
only now and then a rock ~ seen like
an island amid the glaciers, on " hlci
phaneiogamic plants are found AT
the height of ~, 500 feet. In the All
these rise To the height OF II DIG feet.
In Iiptel they met a guard OF y men
hose leader, Kutehol addressed
them with Monsieur" the Chinese
for the French of the same name.
They were dressed in long red coats
and pants, yellow hats with long
queues, which, however, they found
were simply stuck To their heads.
We found their guard To be not Chi
nese, but real Hunias or MOnguls.
They profess Buddhism, and are con-
sidered by some as being the yerita-
bic Hnnns which overran Europe in
the middle ages. He showed several
masks which he had taken from liv-
ing persons, and as some doubt how
this was possible had been expressed
he explained the process at some
length. These impressions, he SAID,
were more exact than photography,
so muGj. so that the Professor i'll Vi
emma had been able to recognize dis
eases of the skin in them, which the
individuals had from whom they
were taken. They found that the
guard had been waiting for them sew
cral days to prevent their entering
the Gnori Khorsum. Mani, their
interpreter, tried To explain that
they did not intend to go to Gnori
Khorsum, bat that they wished to
make short cut to another valley.
Purchases made from them at good
price and good dinners made them
friendly and loquacious, and gave
them chance To study their man
ners and habits. While they would
eat with knives, they drank their
water from the brooks on their bei-
lies like animals. They are great on
praying. They conduct their pray
ers by turning AN instrument called
NotlicfoS- -Rhortea lie showed such
an instrument. 1t is made of wood,
like "A rattle; in the interior are =
number of prayers. written on slips
of paper, and every turn they make
is considered equal to saying all the
prayers contained therein The turn
ing must he from the right Ia the
left. But they are aoI satisfied Will
this. While they Use the right hand
for turning the instrument, they turn
with the left Il numher OF fiy-feaves
full of prayers. They make so many
prayers i'm the beiief that tTtheA cAef-
else magic in nfiuen,.e over the deity
W hich he IL unable to resist. They
carry with them amuiets and rosa
ries, W hile each also has a small altar
into which they insert pictures Of
the deity to which they are p out to
pray. Our Traveller now showed n
reaItreasure IAN infaiiible hook Tor
abtaining ahSolItioIf for all siIrs, de-
scrIhing ceremonies " hirh they have
IT, observe tuinsIire their ffi"acs en-
titled Repentance of all Sins ar,
the Golden Razor which s5haNes
FROM all Sins The words. ia this
Rohk of Prayer must he read ex a,-tIS