Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-04-21
THE GRAND LAMA.
xySEAS TELLS HIM OF the PEOPLE Dr-
HEArR HIs YBRT.
A Long Talk with Him-His Ideas About
the Travellers coan-
try.

George Remnants contribution to the
CcahUV is a description OF his visit to
the Grand Lama OF the Trans Baikal,
and from Il the following is quoted:
"After dinner ! had long talk with
The Grand Lama about my native coun-
try. geography. and the shape OF the
earth. IL seemed very strange TO lind
anywhere on the globe, in the nineteenth
century, an educated man and high &C.
clesiastical dieniiary who bad never seen
or heard Of America. and who did not
feel at all sure that the world IS round.
The Grand Lama was sucha man.
"sYou have been in many countries,
he said 20 me through the interpreter,
sand have talked with the wise men OF
the West: what is your opinion with re-
gard 70 tie shape OF tho earth 2
al think. Ireplied, that tits shaped
Ike a great ball. 50,
al have heard 80 before, said the
Grand Lama, looking thoughtfully away
into vacancy. The Russian officers
whom have met have told me that the
world is round. Such a belief IS contrary
70 the teachings Of our ThIbetan books,
but | have observed that the Russian
wise men predict eclipses accurately,
md If they can tell beforehand when the
sun and the moon are dsrkened they
probably know something about the
shape Of the earth. Why do you think
that the earth Is round 2
"'I have many reasons for thinking
So answered, but perhaps tue best
and strongest reason Is that l have been
around it..
This statement seemed 10 give the
Grand Lama a sort OF mental shock.
"'How have you been around II 2 he
inquired. What do you mean 10y
"around it2" How DO yon know that
YOU have been Ground it?'
al turned my back upon my home,
] replied, 'aud travelled many months
in the course takon by the sun.
crossed wide continents and great oceans.
Every night the sun set before my face
and every morning il rose behind my
back. The earth always seemed fiat,
but / could not find anywhere an end
nor an edge and at last, when | had
travelled more than $4,000 versts. |
found myself again IN my own country,
sud returned 10 my home from a direc-
ton exactly opposite ~ that which had
taken in leaving It, If the world was
lat 90 YOU think | could have done
this?
at is very strange, said the Grand
Lama, after a thoughtful pause OF a mo-
ment. where is your country ? How
Jar is it beyond ST Petersburg 2
a. My country is farther from ST.
Petersburg than st. Petersburg Is from
lere. replied. 1t lies almost exactly
under our feet. and if We could 60 di-
roctly through this earth that would be
She shortest way 90 reach At
1.-THE Grand Lama then asked me to
describe infinitely the route that We had
followed ia coming from America to 81
IBERIA and to name the countries through
which We had passed. lie knew that
Germany adi0incl Russia on the west /;
be had heard Of British India and Of
Englend-probably through Tmbet-
aud bee had u vague idea OF the extent
and situation Of tine Pacific Ocean but
of the Atlantic and OF the continent that
lies between the two great oceans he
knew nothing.
"'Are your cohntrymen walklDg
around their beads downward under ON
feet ? asked the Grand Lama with eyl-
dent interest end surprise, but without
any perccnt.hle change in his habItually
SmpAssNe face.
"'Yes. / replied 'and to them we
ecem 10 besitting heads downward here.
"After long talk. in the course OF
which We discussed the sphericltY of the
earth from every possible point OF view,
the Grand Lama s. cucd 10 be partly or
wholly convinced Of the truth OF that
doctrine. and said With a sigh, II IS not
in accordance with the teachings OF our
books: bu, the Bussians must Ire right.
"it is somewhat remarkable fact
fhat Or. Erman, the only foreigner who
had seen the lamascry OF Goose Lake
previous 10 our visit, had an almost pre-
risely similar conversation concerning
Che shape OF the earth with the man
who va, then in 1899 Grand Lama.
Almost sixty years elapsed between DR..
Trmau's visit and ours. but the doctrine
OF the sphcricity OF the earth continued
throughout the period to trouble eccle-
sastcal minds in TINS remote Last Sibe-
rnn lama,ety and it IS not improbable
that sixty years hence some traveller
from the Western world may be asked
nv some future Grand Lama TO give his
reasons for believing the world to be a
sphere