Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-02-22
A LAND OF MARYELS.

-It.flfe BUT.
A LAND OF MARyELS.
One of the Last of our Geographical Mys-
teries-A Terra Incoguita Beyond the
Himalayas--The Secrets of Thibet.
Thibet is one of the few regions left
on the earth which still afford legitimate
scope for romantic conjecture. All
other lands of mystery have been ex-
ploded. The Abyssinian campaign dis
sipated the last shreds of wonder about
PreSter John. Travellers have abol-
ished the mountains of the moon;
Russian railway runs within sight of
the Nultule's nest, the eyrie of the
Assassins and the Old Man of the
Mountains; commerce has familiarized
us with the lands of the white elephant
and golden umbrellas; science has dis
persed Atlantis, Utopia, and the other
"Erewhons' ofpast beliefs. No Raleigh
nowadays would make sail for tabled
cities of Mansa, no voyager set his helm
for the Hesperides. The Ichthyophagi,
Tartarines and Malrotrans, with all the
other strange races of whom Mande-
vile gossiped, are now sobered down
into matter-of-fact tribes, and the whole
world, under the ruthless scrutiny of
scientific exploration, is fast becoming
common place. Electricity and the
cabinet trick, photography. balloons,
dynamite and all other like things are,
no doubt, very wonderful, or mys-
FERROUS, or dreadful but they
have not the romance of the
old days, when blanket-eared men
were known to exist who wrapped
themselves up in their ears when they
wanted to go to bed;" when pilgrims
ON their journeys CHANGED upon doiorous
giants or delectable lions; when Real
nahs went to chemists shops to buy
their sleep in slabs; when, in fact, fairy
land and goblin-land existed, and
fairies and goblins to live in
them. Those were the times
for real adventure. One might then
reasonably expect to meet with an ogre
or paladin or an enchanted maiden in
the course of days ride, while Want
ley still had green dragons, and Duns-
more heath its black ones. But they
are gone-the good old days
of unlimited conjecture and fas-
cinating uncertainty. East, West,
North and South, hard-headed
men have Travelled, sweeping cob-webs
out of the dark corners of the world,
and writing books about them. Even
pagans and heather are giving up their
tetishes and idols as antiquated foolery,
and the missionary reports periodically
an increasing acreage of broadcloth
Upon the person of the noble savage
Meanwhile, one country defies all eff
forts, and this is Thibet. Perched upon
the edges of mountains that none but
Thibetans have crossed. the highland
plateau remains for civilization and
science land of mystery. Like some
princess of fairy tale the country over
looks from her prison tower the futile
attempts of heroes to reach her, and
coiled all round the treasure lies the in
terminable serpent of China, the dragon
empire, vigilant and alert.
How wonderfully well, too, that
dragon-guardian has kept the secret!
Travellers have essayed the land at
every point, but sooner or later there
meets them an official with the reptile
emblem of the fowery land upon his
uniform. and the intruder has to turn
back. 1t il not TO be supposed, of
course, that we know nothing of
Thibet, for we know good deal; but
that is all so vague that curiosity is
more pigued than it would be by abso-
lutte ignorance. A child, the Grand
Lama, sits in inviolable sanctity within
the awful courts of Lhassa. Incense
burns perpetually before the terrible
infant, and nation of priests exercise
viceregal powers in his behalf through
out the land. The towns are mere col
lections of temples, and some are posi-
lively overloaded with native gold and
gems. Monasteries, with golden roofs,
contain as many as four thousand
priests, and all Central Asia travels in
pilgrimage 10 the holy city of the invis-
ible boy. With them they bring the
choicest product of the countries, still
semi-fabulous, that adioin Thibet; musk
gems of rare size and sort,
horses of Turkestan, and yaks
from the snowy mountain heights. India
sends up her corals and pearls and
spices; Cashmere its saffron and fruit,
curiously woven tissues, and ininitable
lacquer; while Bokhariot and Tartar
trail across the steppes their loads of
silk and tea, of carpets and porcelain.
Yet, after all, our knowledge is much
of it travellers tales, for who has ever
seen those wondrous caravans of yaks
that defile along the valley of the San
Pc, or heard the challenge Of the Chi
nese sentries every hour during jour
new of eight hundred miles along the
sacred highway? Hindoo pundits,
travelling secretly and in disguise on
behalf Of the Indian Government, have
made the journey, and tell us of herds of
wild asses which scour the plains where
borax glitters in lakes, and of the horns
Of the Angai that lie bleaching upon
the barren mountains-horns so large
that the foxes make their homes inside
them. Round. the Great Lake stand
clustered the BLACK tents of the gvpsy
Tangufans-a nomadic and violent race;
on the islands of Blue Lake live in
perpetual seclusion the Brotherhood OF
the Elect, the monastery of the lamas,
who, so modern theosophy declares,
are in the secrets Of the Creator. and,
by virtue Of their knowledge, re-
yolve upon the ultimate rounds
Of existence. The Sky Lake is even
more sacred. for the Buddhis.s who
people its temples are already on
the last rung Of sanctity. and only one
yfep therefore below divinity itself
Vast extents of gold bearing soil lie, 90
q . said, untouched. and the travellers
report with awe how. passing over win
ef.locked lakes. they saw geysers Of