The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-06-28

VANCOUVER (B. c., June H.
Miss Taylor, of London, England,
the only woman who ever penetrat
ed the interior of Thibet, was an
arrival by the Empress of Japan
yesterday. She is small in stature,
her features are fine and her man
ner genteel and pleasant. In spite
of this fact Miss Taylor has travelled
where a man could not have gone
and lived.
She was connected indirectly
with the China Inland Mission, but,
having sufficient means of her own,
travelled about as fancy dictated.
Among other parts that she took a
notion to visit was the interior of
Thibet. The trade of Thibet is held
by China, and China is very jeal-
Gus of having any one of any other
nation enter the country. The Chi
nese have guards all around the
territory and far in the interior
their spies are to be met.
Miss Taylor started out first with
four servants, and among them was
a Monaghan Mahommedan, who
coveted her belongings and who
thought it would be a meritorious
thing to kill her anyway. This
man gave her a great deal of trou-
bic, and his treachery at the end
nearly cost her her life and proven
ted her entry into Lhasa, the sacred
city of the interior of Thibet, of
which so many strange stories are
told.
Miss Taylor's party was twice
stopped by bandits. Once they
took nearly all her things away,
but after discovering that her party
were not members of the faction for
which they had been mistaken,
some of her goods were restored to
her.
After many vicissitudes she
reached the Lhasa district and got
to within a few miles of Lhasa City.
Here she found that her treacher-
Gus servant had gone ahead and
told the head men that if they
allowed her to enter the city their
lives would be forfeited to the Chi
nese government. The authorities,
when she came up, told her that
they were very sorry that they
would willingly let her enter the
city, but they dared not. She was
thus forced to turn back within
sight of her goal.
The Thibetans are a nomadic
people, but have one or two per-
manent towns, Lehasa, the capital,
being the largest. The people are
governed principally by the La
mas, or native priests.
They practice polandry to
great extent, many women having
as many as three or four husbands,
who in many cases are brothers.
The country is all very much
above the sea level, some 1000
| feet in the valleys, and she suf-
fered greatly from difficulty in
breathing. The Thibetans are
herders and many of them are
splendid horsemen. They use a
number of horses and the yak,
which corresponds to the OK of this
country, though larger.
Miss Taylor has a Thibetan man
servant with her whom she says
has been very faithful. When
Miss Taylor finally reached the
border exit was refused this SER
want. She said in the Thibetan
language, which she understands
perfectly: "He goes or I do not.
You may kill me if you wish, but
my man must go. See you thisp'
and she drew from her breast a
small silken union jack that she
had carried through all her travels.
'Stain this flag with my blood and
the great mother, whose sign this
flag is, will avenge my death"
Strange to say, this obtained he1
not only exit, but a safe escort.