Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-10-31
A JOURNEY THROUGH THIBET
No. Al
Washington Corr. n. Y. Herald. !

is now living quietly at his home in Wash
ington City. He is W. Woodhid RockhiIl
who was for number OF years Secretary
to John Russell Young when he was Min
lister to China, who acquired there a thor
ough knowlege of the Chinese language
and of that of the people of Thibet. Mr..
Rockhlll conceived the idea of visiting the
strange land upon reading the book OF the
Able Hue, who made some Investigations
there number of years ago He started
from Peking and went through the whole
of the north of China by way of Sin. ming,
the most northwestern town. From that
city begin the Mongol tribes. From there
he went up to Koko Nor Lake, a tremen-
douS salt lake. Then he went round north
OF that lake, and thence into the Tsldan,
the greater part of which is a desert He
crossed this MoDgol country with ponies
and then decided TO do his best to explore
Eastern Thibet. He exchanged horses for
camels, and after great deal of trouble in
getting the run of the lakes and rivers he
crossed the Kuen Lun Mountains on three
different occasions. The passes are be-
tween $4,000 and 10000 feet high. He
crossed a tremendous desert, perfectly unin-
habited, but filled with game, the wild
yak, wild asses and three or four descrip-
tions of antelope.
From the time that he left China until
he got back, he wore the native dress He
had four Chinese with him. The party
suffered tremendously from the ratification
of the air called the sirocchee. AS they
crossed the Yellow river there was per-
fectly fat plain. 1t was as much as the
horses and even the dogs could do to put
one foot before another. Men, riding
horses, were catching for breath the whole
time, but on ascending the moutain did not
suffer at all. Going lower they suffered
greatly from vomiting and fever. In this
region they rode thirteen days, part of the
time down the valley of the Drechu river.
Finally they got down to Kanze on the
rivera big hlbetan town. The people
were very kind. They remained there four
days. There was little Chinese official
there with eight or ten soldiers who was
civil enough. After propitiatipg him with
presents, he gave our explorer four soldiers.
They rode along as fast as possible to a
place called BawO, all the time through
the same kind of thickly settled coun-
try.
There were few Chinese traders who
udu WOuCu VI LILO duu
lived there.
The Thibetan people are well-disposed
and kind, but they are under the control OF
the Lamas The latter have all the riches
in the country in their hands, so that no
matter how well people are disposed to-
ward you, word from the Lamas is suffi
cient to set them against you. The objec-
tion of the Lamas to the entry of foreigners
was that they would seek the treasures of
the country. The Chinese government ex-
ercises nominal sovereignty over Tbibet.
There are localities where the Chinese can
not get any hold. Lamaism is the prevail
ing religion. They have tremendous lit
eiature, and reading prayers is their con-
istant employment. They have prayer
wheels, some run by water and some by
wind, on the tops of the houses. These
are filled with prayers, and the fact they
are turned from left to right is the same as
reading them, for the words pass before the
eyes If they are turned the other way,
however, the effect is bad.
The people engage the Lamas to come
and read prayers for them. They pay
about ten cents day and give them tea
and food. The rich people viii give large
sums of money for the reading of prayers
AS matter of fact, under the CLOAK of
sanctity, the Lamas are engaged in all
kinds OF trading at Tsa Chm Lu. There
are no pawnbTokeIs' shops, which are such
an institution in China The business is in
the hands OF the Lamas, and bands of them
scour the country, collecting erything
they can.
POLYANDRY.
Polyandry prevails in Thibet; that is
one woman has several husbands, ust the
opposite from the Mormon system. The
custom prevails IL Eastern Thibet in the
agricultural regions. The explanation is
that the arabic land is very small in
amount, and if the sons divided up the
estate there would not be enough for them.
Accordingly they share it, and several
brothers are usually married to one women
Being great traders, one or two OF them are
usually away. The children call one of
them father and the others they cali uncle
A proof that it is the scarcity of arabic
lands that causes the practice is found in
the fact that it does not exist among the
nomadic Thibetans. All the villages are
perched upon some inaccessible rock sim
ply because they do not wish to put the
village on any ground that can be culti-
waited. The people live on the barley,
which they call "somba." They mix it
with tea. They have no regular time for
meals. Whenever they feel hungry the
pot is ready and they make a little of this
mixture Now and then they have sheep.
1t is miserably poor country, and they do
not kill much game because they have not
the improved firearms.
The people have rather clear cut fea-
lures, and thin, aquiline noses are quite
common. Many had curly hair, although
some of them wore queues. 1t is quite an
item with the Chinese to sell them differ
ent colored silks to make these queues.
THIBETAN WOMEN.
The girls are extremely pretty, of good
color, tolerably tall and straight, and well
developed. They are gay, jolly and laugh
ing, and their dress is picturesque: When
dressed, with all their jewelry On, they
present very pleasing appearance. Many
Of them wear sort of 8 liver plaque ON
their heads. The Thibetan woman invests
her spare cash in jewelry. She will buy
all the silver iewelry she can, and then,
when she can afford it, exchanges it for
gold.
The journey through Thibet covered a
route over thousand miles long, but
counting digressions it probably reached
l $50 or 800 miles.