Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1895-09-12
GREAT TREE, GREATER FAKE.
Solving the Mystery of the Tree of Thibet's
Wonderful Leaves.

Solving the Mystery of the Tree of Thibet's
Wonderful Leaves.
The legend-smashing of the present
day seems to go hand in hand with the
record-breaking. Few people have
heard of the marvellous tree of Thibet,
but, nevertheless, for a long time il
has enjoyed a great reputation in the
east 1t is sacred tree, and not long
ago there was an account in some OF
the English and French papers of the
fabulous prices which were paid for a
few of its leaves.
In his Souvenirs de Voyage au
Thibet." Pere Hue speaks of this won
derful tree. 1t is essentially of liter
airy and artistic turn of mind, and has
the strange habit of producing images
and hieroglyphics upon its leaves.
Sometimes religious figures take
the places of the letters. Pere Hue
called the mysterious thing ''the
tree of one thousand images" These
images are found on the leaves, on the
stems, and on the trunk. Near the
temple of Buddha, in the village of
Liousar, Thibet, this great tree has
stood for years, the plague and the
puzzle of all the botanists who have
never received the gift of faith.
In 1891 Mr.. William Rockhill, on a
trip from China, started out to see this
famous tree. He went to Liousar,
village of about eight hundred inhab-
itants and possessing an immense
lamanerie. 1t shelters about three
thousand lamas, or Buddhist priests.
These priests have several temples, in
the largest of which, upon the throne
of three meters, is the statue of Bud
dha, which is. said to be of solid pure
gold. At precisely ten meters from
this temple the famous tree fiourishes.
But RockhiH came away from there
Just as ignorant as he had arrived. 1t
was in February and the tree had no
leaves Hard luck for Rockhill! "Tll
try it again." said he; and he after
ward asserted, wherever he went, that
the tree of one thousand images was
reality-and there was some truth in
what he said.
But at last Monsignore Biet, of the
foreign mission, and apostolic vicar of
Thibet, has just handed over the key
of the mystery. The fake was ex-
planned to him by lama, who, while
on a pilgrimage, became sick, and, on
being cured by the bishop, abjured his
faith and became Catholic. The story
is somewhat amusing. To raise the
wind in the grand lamanerie of Liou-
sar it is necessary to have recourse to
expedientS Every wonderful thing
pays, even in Thibet
A great antiquity was given to the
tree-and, indeed, il was claimed that
II had existed from time immemorial.
But, after all, the trick was simple
enough, like every other trick when it
is found out In the spring and in the
summer, on dark nights, lama, with
his pockets full of hand stamps, and
endowed with acrobatic powers that
would put all our showmep in the
shade, climbs all through the tree and
stamps the leaves with all sorts of
holy images and characters, the most
numerous being the following form
ula: ''0m mane padone om"-glory to
Buddah in the lotus. This is also
stamped upon the bark; and the leaves
and portions of the bark are sold to
visitors.
In this way the lamas do flourish
ing business. 1t might not be safe for
a fellow to say openly that that was
the way it was done, in the neighbor-
hoop of Liousar-and this serves to
show how useful 1t is for one TO know
just when and where to keep his mouth
shut The characters are changed fire.
quently, so that the leaves of 1895 do
not look one bit like the leaves of 1890.
Pere Hue has some leaves, and so has
the prince of Orleans. and every other
visitor-but they are all different. The
need not bother themselves
about finding out the precise family of
this tree. 1t is well known now, and
its name is Fake.-N. Y. Sun.