The Washington critic., 1889-04-17
NEVER HEARD OF AMERICA.


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After dinner had a long talk with the
Grand Lama about my native country,
geography and the shape OF the earth.
It seemed very strange to find anywhere
ON the globe, in the nineteenth century, an
educated man and high ecclesiastical digni-
tary who had never even heard OF America
and who did not feel at all sure that the
world Is round, writes George Kennan in
the Century. The Grand Lama was such
man.
"You have been In many countries" he
said to me through the interpreter, "and
have talked with the wise men Of the West;
what is your opinion with regard TO the
shape Of the carthS
~ think" replied, ''that IL Is shaped
like great ball"
al have heard so before,n said the Grand
Lama, looking thoughtfully away into
vacancy. "The Russian officers whom I
have met have told me that the world is
round. Such belief is contrary TO the
teachings Of our old Thibetan books, but Il
have observed that the Russian wise men
predict eclipses accurately; and IL they can
tell beforehand when the sun and moon are
20 be darkened, they probably know some
thing about the shape Of the earth. Why
do you think that the earth Is roundSn
~ have many reasons for thinking so,r
answered, "but perhaps the best and
strongest reason is that have been around
itr
This statement seemed to give the Grand
Lama sort OF mental shock.
t.uau hnvn vnt, haan orntu1 ft9f, ba In
quired. What do you mean by around itr
How do you know that you have been
around ity'
~ turned my back upon my home,r |
replied, 'and Travelled many months In the
course taken by the sun. crossed wide
continents and great oceans. Every night
the sun set before my face and every morn
ing II rose behind my back The earth al
ways seemed fiat, but could not find any
where an end nor an edge; and at last, when
had Travelled more than thirty thousand
versts, found myself again in my own
country and returned to my home from
direction exactly opposite to that which
had taken in leaving it. If the world was
fiat, do you think could have done thispn
at is very strange" said the Grand
Lama, after n thoughtful pause of
moment. "Where is your country? How
far is your country beyond st. Peters
burg?"
"My country is farther from st. Peters
burg than st. Petersburg is from here,n
replied. at lies almost exactly under
our feet and If we could go directly
through the earth that would be the
shortest way to reach IT,"
care your countrymen walking around
with their heads downwards under our
feetYn asked the Grand Lama, with evident
interest and surprise, but without any per-
ceptible change in his habitually impassive
face.
"Yes," replied, 'and to them we seem
to be sitting heads downward herc.r
The Grand Lama then asked me to de-
scribe minutely the route that we had fol-
lowed in coming from America to Siberia
and to name the countries through which
We had passed. He knew that Germany
adjoIned Russia on the west, he had heard
Of British India and of England-probably
through Thibet--and he had a vague idea
of the extent and situation Of the Pacific
Ocean; but of the Atlantic aud OF the conti-
nent that lies between the two great oceans
be knew nothing.
Alter long talk, in the course of which
we discussed the spherlcity of the earth
from every possible point of view, the
Grand Lama seemed to be partly or wholly
convinced OF the truth Of that doctrine and
said, with sigh: SIT is not in accordance
with the tecchings of our books; but the
Russians must be right"
1t is a somewhat remarkable fact that DIR.
Erman, the only foreigner who had seen the
lamasery Of Goose Lake previous to our
visit, had an almost precisely similar cor
versation concerning the shape Of the earth
with the man who was then lin 1S2s) Grand
Lama.
Almost sixty years elapsed between DR..
Erman's visit and ours, but the doctrine OF
the sphericity Of the earth continued
throughout that period to ecclesiastical
minds in this remote East Siberian lamasery,
and it is not improbable that sixty years
hence some traveller from the Western
world may be asked by some future Grand
Lama to give his reasons for believing the
world to be sphere.