The Opelousas courier., 1891-10-03
A MYSTERIOUS COUNTRY.
HOW PEOPLE LIVE AND AMUsE
THEMSELVES IN THIBET.
Strange Customs There-A Plant
That FIies-Fancy BuriaIs for
Corpses-CriminaI Punishments.

Corpses-Criminal Punishments.
A curious collection of facts respect.
ing Thibet, as represented by various
Chinese authors aud travellers, has been
made by Mr. Woodvllle Rockhill, who
has himself explored that mysteriou:
country of miadle Asia.
On New Year day at the capital city,
Lh'asa, there begins a season of festivi-
ty. One of the entertainments is called
the Spectacle Of the Flying Spirits
The performers stretch an enormously
long rope made of hide all the way from
the top to the bottom of Mount Potaia
then they fasten grooved blocks q wood
to their chests and sail down De line
like SO many swallows. On top Of this
same mountain dwells the pope of the
Buddhist religion, who is called the tale
lama. He is also the incarnation of the
God which chiefly protects mankind.
On the 30th day of the month there is
another great sport, whea the king of
the devils is driven away. A priest is
chosen to play the part of the tale lama,
and a layman selected for his wit and &C
tivity takes the role of the demon. The
latter smears his face with black and
white paint and goes before the pre-
tended tale lama for the purpose of
hooking him. The two have an argu-
ment on religion, the Issue of which is
finally referred by mutual agreement to a
cast of the dice. These dice are very
big ones, about the size of apples, but
the poor tiend has no show at all in the
gamble; for his die is blank On every
side, while the lama's has the highest
number on each side Of it's faces.
Being beaten the king Of the devils is
frightened and runs away, with all the
people after him, firing guns and cannon,
so that he is obliged at length to hide in
hole in the mountain, where provisions
have previously been placed to feed him
fer a few days while he remains in CON
cealment. There are nearly as many
demons in Thlbet as there are human in-
habitants, and the priests or "lamas' are
kept very busy exercising them, because
otherwise they would swarm everywhere
and do no end OF mischief. Ii any one
is sick oil annoyed in any way the devils
are responsible, and the only sensible
thing is to go and hire a priest to brighten
them off. For this purpose the lama
reads aloud from the sacred writings,
blows a horn made from a human thigh
bone, beats a drum manufactured out of
two human skulls, rings q bell aud tells
over a rosary of disk shaped beads cut
out of human skulls. The lamas also do
a large business in fortune telling.
Sometimes they ascertain eehe fates with
~barleycorns, at Others they burn sheep
bones for the same purpose OF gaze into
bowls of water.
According to one author, there is a
very astonishing curiosityin Thibet in
the shape of a plant that flies. It re-
sembles a COG in shape, is the color of
tortoise-shell and is very tame. If lions
or elephants see it they are frightened,
tthence 1t is the king of beasts There
is also a kind of black donkey which can
cope in fight with the tiger. Ga the
icy peaks of the Himalayas, says this
imaginative writer, there is a sssnow
maggot, " resembling the silk worm in ap-
pearance and weighing nearly a pound.
It is excellent to eat, but too much of it
will make one bleed at the nose. Seventy
Ii from Lh'asa is a convent on the top of
a hill and a great hole full Of white clay
that is good to eat. As fast as the clay
is eaten more takes It's place. Behind
the convent is a large lake, and evil
doors who go near always tumble into it.
The Thibetans used to cast Buddhas in
copper and the smaller they were the
more they were worth.
Chinese philosophers say that manner
every hundred Il of distance, and
customs are 40 longer the same every
thousand Ii. Thus the ways Of the
vasJ, but In most parts it is
usual for a woman going t see a priest
to ME her face with motasses. IL this
is not done it is said that she is trying to
captivate the lama BY her comlinass-
IN objectionable crime. A sign of
politeness on meeting a person is to hold
up the clasped hands and stick out the
When a man dies one half of
his property goes to charity aud the other
lalf to the lamas. His family gets moth
Ing. One OF the writers quoted observes
hat, in case of death, the corpse is tied
up with the head between the knees and
suspended in q TaW-hide bag fpom the
a few days later it is taken to
he corpse cutters place, where it is tied
o a post. The flesh is then cut OIL and
given to the dogs and the bones, crushed
n a stone mortar and made up with grain
nto balls, are also thrown to dogs aud
5ultures. Both these methods of burial
ire considered highly desirable.
For small misdemeanors men and
are beaten in the market place.
Great criminals are bound NTH ropes
whipped with raw-hide lashes. #
his does not persuade them to avow
heir guilt, boiling butter is poured on
heir chests. Surprising that they still
their Innocence they are half
with water or splinters are
lriven under their nails.
A woman who chooses to remain sim
tie and to earn her own living is regard
d as an object Of scorn and derision. It
:osts so much to support the zoo, 900
in Thibet, which has only 2,000,
100 inhabitants, that q man cannot
ordinarily afford the luxury of a wife all
D himself, and 90 polyandry is general.
The lamas are nominally celibate. They
'Wn no property personally, but nearly
the gold and other valuables in the
find their way into the great
nonasteries as religious tribute. When
he tale lama dies his spirit is supposed
0 pass into the body Of some child,