The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1892-01-22
YARNS ABOUT THIBET.
STORIES ABOUT LIFE in AN AL.
MOST UNKNOWN COUNTRY.

"A Section OF Ntudle ASIA That Has At.
tractcd Many Able Chinese Story Tell
crs-. Some Remarkable Accounts of
Strange Doings in Chinese Writings.
A curious collection of facts respect
ing Thibet, as represented by vari-
Gus Chinese authors and travellers, has
been made by Mr.. Woodville Rocllhill,
who has himself explored that mysteri-
Gus country of middle Asia.
On New Years day at the capital city,
yh'as;,, there begins season of festivity.
One of the entertainments is called the
':Spectacle of the Flying Spirits" The
performers stretch an enormously largo
rope made ef hide all the way from the
top to the bottom of Mount Potala; then
they fasten grcoved 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.
lie is also the incarnation of the god
which chiefly protects mankind.
On the 30th Of tho month there is an
other great sport when the king of the
devils is driven away. Apricst is chosen
to play the part of the tale lama, and a
layman, selected for his wit an,, activity,
takes the role of the demon. The latter
smcars his face with black and white
paint, and goes before the pretended t,lc
lama for uhe purpose of moclsing linn.
he mo have :sn argument On religion,
ti,e is'suo of which il, tinally l. rerred Ly
ini'tu;l ;igreei. e,.t ~ a cast o. dice.
These dice ara very big ones, about
thc size - apples. Dut III poor ti,'nl has
~ show ut all III the gamble, for h.: die
is bl;lnk on every SIDE, While the lai.l;.'s
has the highest number Oil c;icl, of its
faces. In Thihet, as i'll Christian coun-
tries, it is always laudable to defruud
the devil
Ecing beaten. the king of the devils ia
frightened and runs away, With all the
people after him, firing guns aud cannon,
SO that he is obliged to hide ut length i'll
IL hole in the mountain, where provisions
have previously been placed to feed him
for a few days while he remains in COLI
cealment. There arc nearly as many
demons in Thibet as there are human
inhabitants, and the priests or "lalnas"
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
only sensible thing is to so and hire IL
priest to frighten them Off. For this
purpose the lama reads aloud from the
sacred writings, blows IL horn made
from q l,uman thigh bone, beats drum
manufactured out of two human skulls,
rings a bell and tells over Il rosary of
disk shaped beads cut out of human
skulls.
The la,nas also DO a large business in
| fortune telling. Sometimes they asccr-
tain the fates witt, barleycorns; at
others they burn sheep bones for the
sane purposc or gaze into bowls of
water.
According TO one author there is o
very astonishing curiosity i'll Thibet in
the shape OF plant that flies. 1t re-
scmbles dog i'll shape, is the color of &,
tortoise shell and is very tame. Ii lions
or elephants see it they are frightened,
"hence it is the king of be;,sys." There
is 4 kind of black donkey which can
cope in fight With the tiger. On the icy
peaks of the nmaiayas, says this imagi-
native writer, there is q. .s'snow lnaggot,"
resembling the silkworm in appearance
and weighing nearly % pound. 1t is ex-
cellent to cat, but too much of it will
make one bleed at the nose.
top of a hill. and great hole full OF
white clay that is good to eat. AS fast
us the clay is eaten more takes its place.
Behind the convent is a large lake, and
eyildoers who go near always tumble
into it. The Thibetans used to cast
Budahas in copper, and the smaller they
we're the more they We're worth.
PoLlrENEss In TfiIBET.
Chinese philosophers say that manners
differ every hundred Ii of distance, and
customs are nc longer the same every
Thousand Ii. Thus the ways of the
Thihetans vary, but in most parts it is
usual for woman going to see IL priest
to smear ler face with mol,sses. Ii
this is not done it is said that she is try
ing TO captvate the lama by her colneli-
ness-an nnpardonable crime. A sign
OF politeness Oh meeting IL person is to
hold UP the clasped hands and stick out
the tongue. When a man dies one-half
of his property goes to charity and the
other half to the lalnas. His family
gets nothing. y
Ono of the writers quoted observes
that in case of death the corpse is tied
UP with tho head between the knees,
and suspended in a rawhide bag from
the rafters. A few days later it is taken
to the corpse cutters place, where it is
tied to Il post. The flesh is then cut of
and given to dogs and the bones crushed
III a stone mortar and made up with
grain into balls. which are also thrown
to dogs and vulturos. Both these meth
eds of burial are considered highly &C.
-irihic.
For small ,nisdemeanors men and
Woincn are stripped ard bea-en i'll the
market place. Great criminals are
Donnd With ropes and whipped with raw.
hide lasi:es. If this does not persuade
them to avow their guilt boiling butte..
IS poured on their chests. Supposing
ti.;.t they still protest their innocence,
tiley are sutfocated with water or splint-
ers are driven under their nails.-Wash-
ington Star.
Machinery Has Affected the shoem a7 er
Aman called shoemaker thirty years
ago made shoes; today, except in rare
cases, lie makes only part of shoe as
J he labors in some factory guiding one OF
. the other of the numerous labor saving
machines, and is known as 81 beater,
1 1T. 1.~k