Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1892-01-09
YARNS ABOUT THIBEr.
STORIES ABOUT LIFE ~ AN AZ
MOST UNKNOWN COUNTRY.

A Section of Middle Asia That Has At
tracted Many Able Chinese Story Tell
ers - some Remarkable Accounts OF.
Strange Doings In Chinese Writings.
A curious collection of facts respect
ing Thibet, as represented by yari-
GUS Chinese authors and travellers. has
been made by Mr.. Woodville Rockhill,
who has himself explored that mysteri.
GUS country of middle Asia.
On New Years day at the capital city,
Lh'asa, there begins a season of festivity.
One of the entertainments is called the
Spectacle of the Flying Spirits The
performers stretch an enormously large
rope made of hide all the way from the
top to the bottom of Mount Potala; then
they fasten grooved blocks of wood to
their chests and sail down the line like
so many swallows. On top of this same
mountain dwells the pope of the Budd-
hist religion, who is called the tale lama.
He is also the incarnation of the god
which chiefly protects mankind.
On the 30th of the month there is an
other great sport when the king of the
devils is driven away. A priest is chosen
to play the part OF the tale lama, and
layman, selected for his wit and activity,
takes the role of the demon. The latter
srnears his face with black and white
paint, and goes before the pretended tale
lama for the purpose of knocking him.
The two have an argument ON religion,
the issue of which is finally referred by
mutual agreement to cast of dice.
These dice are very big ones, about
the size of apples, but the poor fiend 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 of its
faces. In Thibet, as in Christian coun-
tries, it is always laudable to defraud
the devil.
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 to hide at length in
a hole in the mountain, where provisions
have previously been placed to feed him
for a few days while he remains in con-
cealment There are nearly as many
demons in Thibet as there are human
inhabitants, and the priests or ''lamas'
are kept very busy exercising them, be-
cause otherwise they would swarm every
where and do no end of mischief.
POWER OF THE PRIESTS.
If any one is sick or annoyed in any
way the devils are responsible, and the
flxf,Nry 20, To h,
priest to brighten them off. For this
purpose the lama reads aloud from the
sacred writings, blows a horn made
from human thigh bone, beats drum
manufactured out of two human skulls,
rings bell and tells over rosary of
disk shaped beads cut out of human
skulls.
The lamas also doa large business i'll
fortune telling Sometimes they ascer-
tain the fates with barleycorns; at
others they burn sheep bones for the
same purpose or gaze into bowls of
water.
According to one author there is a
very astonishing curiosity in Thibet in
the shape of plant that flies. 1t re-
sembles dog in shape, is the color of
tortoise shell and is very tame. If lions
or elephants see it they are frightened,
''hence it is the king of beasts" There
is kind of black donkey which can
cope in Sight with the tiger. On the icy
peaks Of the Himalayas, says this imagi-
native writer, there is 'snow maggot,"
resembling the silkworm in appearance
and weighing nearly pound. 1t is ex-
cellent to eat, but too much of it will
make one bleed at the nose.
Seventy Ii from Lh'asa is a convent ON
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 its place.
Behind the convent is . large lake, and
evildoers 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.
PoLITENEsS IN THIBET.
Chinese philosophers say that manners
differ every hundred Ii of distance, and
customs are ne longer the same every
thousand Ii. Thus the ways of the
Thibetans vary, but in most parts it is
usual for woman going to see a priest
to smear her face with molasses. If
this is not done it is said that she is try
ing to captiyate the lama by her comeli-
ness-an objectionable crime. A sign
of politeness on meeting person is to
hold up the clasped hands and stick out
the tongue When man dies one-half
of his property goes to charity and the
other half to the lamas. His family
gets nothing.
One of the writers quoted observes
that in case of death the corpse is tied
up with the head between the knees,
and suspended in rawhide bag from
the rafters. A few days later it is taken
to the corpse cutters place, where it is
tied to post. The flesh is then cut off
and given to dogs and the bones crushed
in a stone mortar and made up with
grain into balls, which are also thrown
to dogs and vultures. Both these meth
DDS of burial are considered highly de-
Sirable.
For small misdemeanors men and
women are stripped and beaten in the
market place. Great criminals are
bound with ropes and whipped with raw
hide lashes. If this does not persuade
them to avow their guilt boiling butter
is poured on their chests. Surprising
that they still protest their innocence,
they are suffocated with water or splint-
ers are driven under their nails. Wash
ington Star.