Milford chronicle., 1895-07-19
GREAT TREE, GREATER FAKE.
Solving the Mystery of the Tree Of Tibet'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 tn,
marvellous tree of Tibet; but, neverthe
less, for long time it has enjoyed great
reputation In the east. 1t is a sacred tree,
and not long ago there was an account In
some Of the English and French papers Of
the fabulous prices which We're paid for a
few Of its leaves.
In his Souvenirs dc Voyage au Ii
bet, Poro Hue speaks Of this wonderful
I tree. 1t is essentially Of a literary and ar
/ tistio turn Of mind and has the strange
I habit Of producing images and hieroglyph-
4 les upon its leaves. Sometimes religious
/ figures take the places Of the letters. Pere
Hue called the mysterious thing "the tree
Of 1000 images These images arc found
on the leaves, on tho stems and on the
| trunk. Near the temple of Buddha in the
village Of Liousar, Tibet, this great tree
has stood for years, the plague and puzzle
of 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 500 inhabitants and possessing an
immense lamasery. 1t shelters about
priests have several temples, in the largest
Of which, upon the throne Of three meters
is the statue Of Buddhu which is said to
be Of solid pure gold. At precisely ten
meters from this temple The famous tree
hourishcs. But Rockhill CAME away from
there just as ignorant as he had arrived.
1t was in February, and the tree had no
leaves. Hard luck for Rockhilll "rll try
1t again, said he, and he afterward assert
ed wherever he went that the tree Of 900
images was reality, and there was some
truth In what he said.
But at last Mgr. Blot of the foreign
mission and apostolic vicar of Tibet has
just handed over the key Of the mystery
The fake was explained to him by lama, [
who, while on a pilgrimage, became sick,
and on being cured by tho bishop adiured /
his religion and became u Catholic. The 4
story is somewhat amusing. To raise the .
wind in the graHd lamasery of Liousar
1t is necessary to have recourse to expcdi- I
ents Every wonderful thing pays, even
in Tibet. A great antiquity was given
to the tree and indeed it was claimed that
it 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 sum
mer ON dark nights a-lalna, with his peck
cts full Of hand stamps and endowed with
lcrObatic powers that would put all our
ihowmen in the shade, climbs all through
lhe tree and stamps the leaves with all
sorts Of holy images and characters, the
most numerous being the following formu-
a: ON name padone ON (glory to Buddha
n the lOtus) This is also stamped upon
he bark, and the leaves and portions of
he bark are sold to the visitors. In this
way tho lamas do flourishing business.
t might not be safe for fellow to say
penly that that was the way it was done
n the neighboIhOod Of Liousar, and this
erves to show how useful it is for one to
now just when and where to keep his
mouth shut. The characters are changed
SO that the leaves Of 1895 do
lot look one bit like the leaves of 1890. :
'ere Hue has some leaves, and so has the {
'rince Of Orleans and every other visitor, {
ut they arc all different. The naturalists {
eed not bother themselves about finding !
ut tho precise family Of this tree. 1t is {
ell known now, and its name is fake. - a
lew York sun. S