New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-02-07
SUNDAY EDITION.
FEB. 2, 1886.
A TRAVELLER IN TIBET.
DANGEROUS SHEEP AND kASCALLY sHEP.
HERDS.


must cease An apparently inaccessible
mountain bars the way, rising, / thought
at first, almost to the zenith. and shut
ting out half the sky. This is the Nirpana
Dhura ldhura means pass or gate, German thor,
Greek hyra, English door the Gate of Nothing
ness" lying like lion in the path of the traveller
from Kumaon to Tibet The path becomes mere
goats track, yet it has been made with great care;
every moment the sheer precipice lies before one,
and it seems impossible to go any further. But
there is always some perilously steep staircase cut
in the rock leading ono above or below the
obstacle or narrow ledge becomes apparent,
passing over the very face of the cliff.
The most disagreeable feature Of the Nrpania
DEura is the sheep. They come in strings mile or
two long in charge of short sturdy little Tibetans,
who appear at intervals in the procession wrapped
in dirty sheepskins and carrying q long rifle slung
over their shoulders. They brandlsh their sticks
and emit various awful squalls, squeals, whistles
and gurgles to cheer the minds OF their woolly
charges. Each sheep carries pair of little leather
saddlebags stuffed full of salt or borax. The
caravan is generally led by number of huge goats
similarly laden In this country sheep covered
with wool, and goats with hair. THIS may appeSr
to YOU a matter of course, but in many pats Of
Western Asia the sheep are Just likely to have
hair and the goats wool. There | could 'nly
distinguish the goats by their turned-up noses AMI
generally impudent bearing, and the sheep by their
mild, Roman nosed dignity and their huge fat tails,
which sometimes weighed twenty pounds.
| do not think myself much Drawer than other
men, but hitherto ] had never been much afrail
of sheep. had passed numbers of them with an
unmOved cOuntenance Ii was the Nrpania Dhura
which first show ed me Bellyn as dangerous
animal 1t results entirely from his lack of in a. in
alton. The path is too narrow for two; the sh o.
oil, M nd ia has ol lie wOuld
but is pushed on by those behind. Having the
choice of jumping down the preciIicc or char ng
the mysterious monster ahead, he chooses the
unknown danger rather than the known, shuts his
eyes and dashes desperately forward After
colliding with hundred or sheep one after
another and several times just missing tumble
into the Kali four five thousand feet below. l
began to look upon the meeke of meek animals as
something to be feared. 1t is impossible 10 count
on their actions beforehand Now dOnkeys are
always consistent 1t is the vice of little minds as
Carlyle Tor some elsel says. One point of my
education was acquired in Greece, the art OF
getting past donkeys IN places like the Nrpania.
take the inside of the path and the donkey the
outside Now if | try to push him away so as to
leave room for he instantly returns the pressure
with compound interest, and bangs me against the
rock. So instead of pushing him from me, gently
pull him toward me- his natural "coptrariness"
makes him lean the other way, and behold the road
is clear.
These sheep are great nuisances in another way.
With their sharp little hoOfs (which are sometimes
shod with from they cut the road to pieces and
cover il fathom deep with dust or mud as the case
may be- The road from Sosa to Galagarh is almost
one continuous mud-hole in consequence This
pleases the butterflies nightly. / see three black
ones at this moment-AuOcerd srdhd IS their long
resoundnQ namc,-sitting at the edge of puddle
and sucking in the black liquid with as much
pleasure as if it were Roman punch. gently opening
and shutting their wings the while. That Is.
think their way of expressing joy, just as if they
should wag their tails purr.-actons which
would appear undgnifed in butterfly. No doubt
they are remarkng the superior body and
bouquet of their mud TO that which little group OF
orange butterflies (Colias sldi is discussing in the
next puddle but one The good taste and breeding
of these pretty creatures is shown by the fact that
the lady butterflies attend these openair free
lunches. Doubtless they think the company NOT
select and sometimes unmanncrly and so 1t Is.
especially the hornets But their male relatives
seem to enjoy themselves very much. cannot but
think what mourning would prevail among my
favorite insects if the sneep should all die or he
| eaten up and the race of mud-puddles thereby
become extinct.
,Iarbyan is the largest village of Byans. 1t is
governed by three magistrates called Pdthaas
(urddhdn is the correct word, but they don't pro-
nounce it sol, elected for life. Budbi has four
pathaus and Kuthi two, the other villages one.
| This form of government is. indeed, universal
| among the Hindus of Kumaon, but there the
| influence of the village pathans has been greatly
undermined by that of the higher officials appointed
| by the English magistrates at Almora. But IN
Byans the pathans are kings in humble way
like the African monarchs described in tie Bah
| Ballads"
When reached Garbyan all the pathans came to
| see mo- and so did Gobara. the great man of Byans
| called Pdndt or Teacher, account OF his
! acoured knowledge and natural wisdom. spent
| almost an entire day in showing these people my
| microscope and think that every man, woman and
| child in tho town had peep through 1t. Inc
beautiful blue and green scales from the wing OF
| the Paris butterfly caused great admiration.
| confess was surprised when Gobaria said he had
heard that fly bad ten thousand eyes and that no
| would like to see them. He had read it in book,
he said. Surely this world of ours does move; who
would have expected to find the discoveries OF the
| microscope Known in remote valley of the Him.
aayasf It is not intelligence or even information
! in which the Bhutias arc lacking. They are
shrewd, worldly wise people, hungry for knowi-
| edge forgetting nothing that they learn; the
Hndus are as children compared with them. They
are q race of shepherds and pedlcrs But pedler
is ant to be a cheat and from shepherd to robber
| is proverbially bat a step. The Bhuiias are the
| greatest thieves and swinGers have ever known.
| The very men with whom l spent the whole DAY
show ing them my microscope fairly swept my 'en1
| of all small articles not locked up. ! lost more
things IN three weeks IN Tibet than did IN the
preceding four years in India. Every day. AM, ana
| ni0hf sat up till o'clock with revolver in my
hand, fairly thirsting for blood. But no ono came.
| Furthermore though am used to bargaining with
| all I md "a
| everything bought COvetousness, the great wee
of all Mongolans. is, as Gobara admitted tho
ruling passion of his people. They have the
snnerlcial Chinese good nature in a most eNasper-
ating degree. One man who had stolen half z
sheep from me actually confessed it to NE and
laughed at il as good joke, and seemed surprised
/ Ii fn,y mt the Win