The herald., 1896-01-14
TALKS WITH Travellers
Men of Standing Now in South
ern California
A PHILOSOPHICAL PUNDlT
Is Getting Into Physical Condition Prior
TO Seeing Lhasa
The Rsariny OF lr;ily bIilt Fir. Traps
Discoura sed-A fian Who Thought
PHILOSOPHICAL PUNDlI
The Rearing OF Film silly bIlt Fire Traps
Discouraged-A fian Who Thought
Il Was Hot Last Week

Phineas W. Thatcher, a Boston theosoph-
ical pundit, is Wis ting the various points OF
interest in Southern California. he said
that nothing of more interest to the lover
of metaphysics than A. p Sinnett's ESQ
terc Buddhism has been published for
many years. 1t has but little literary
merit. Sinnett is unfortunately an uned-
ucated man in the usual acceptance OF the
phrase; the charm of the book to me Is the
singular fascination arising from his asser-
ton that his Information was voluntarily
communicated to him under a solemn vow
that his revelations Of striking truths relat-
, ing to hitherto insolube problems, to the
wisest and bess OF the human family from
the renotest antiquity, should be commun-
| icated to the western civilization.
[ Just think for moment of our position.
| We are, without being consulted in the
matter companions in misery of two bill
ion or more unfortunates, living on the
skin Of an elliptcally- shaped body, rotat-
| ing and rushing at frightful velocity
| through pathless oceans of space. Inn
mersed in an atmospheric sea. whose dens-
! ity has not yet been definitely de ermined,
| cur appearance to observers in other
! realms of space would not be unlike that
! of confused tangie of crawtish, slowly
! crawling at the bottom Of mighty ocean.
| L think that whether or no the problem OF
! human existence will ever be completely
| solved, he would be rash man who, in
/ view of the gigantic strides which human
! knowledge is making, should deny so
| splendid n triumph of the mind. though
| Hensoldt observes: "WhateVer physical
! science may still accomplish in increasing
our material comforts, it will never solve
the hoary riddle of the sphinx. We may
anayze and dissect matter for another
| million years, yet the result will be merely
an extended knowledge of observed Sc
quences, vast accumulation Of so-calied
facts. an ever-growing complication OF the
already bewildering maze OF recorded phe-
nomena. for as tsong Shera says:' Within
| the charmed circle of matter there is no
| hope of redemplon.''
Occult science had its origin in Thbet, of
which we know much less than of Africa.
The first Europeans to visit the land OF the
Lamas were Marco, Nicolo and Maffeo
! Polo in The early months of the year
1900, entering it by way of the Pamr, a
| feat which no western traveller has since
accomplished. Missionaries followed from
| 1928 to 1860, the more noted of whom
| were Friar Odoric. and D'Orville and
Gruber. The first Englshman who ever
set foot on the land of mystery beyond the
| Thibetan range OF mountains was George
| Boyle, an enissary from Warren Hastings
| to the Ieshu Lama of Shigatse. A burly
Briton named Thomas Manning, after
! great hardship reached the stronghold of
! Buddhism in 1911. He was, on account
of bad conduct, kicked out twenty-four
hours after his arrival, and after much
suffering finally got back on Indian soil.
! Thirty years later an organized attempt
! was made to satisfy western curiosity. by
Fathers Hue and CADET of Paris, who,
/ disguised as Lamas. penetrated to Lhasa
! in 1S41. Their published story of their
travels is we'll known. Then comes W. W:
Rockhills' journey iii 1SSS, the story of
it being published in the Century magazine
November 90 to March ;91. His notes
are the latest on record. but he never was
able to get within 400 miles of Lhasa. The
difficulty of reaching this center is the
spiteful policy of the Chinese. The city
is l. 900 feet above sea level, exceeding
that of all the most elevated human hab-
tations. 1t is in latitude 20 deg. 40 min.,
about that of New Orleans. Only the
most robust can endure the disturbances
to the respiratory system incident upon
life in such an elevated region; but | have
made up my mind to get to Lhasa at all
hazards, and my present visit TO Southern
California is physical preparation for
my trip.
Wendell Easton, of the real estate firm
of Easton, Edridge q Co., of San Fran
cisco. is on a brief visit to their branch
office here. Asked if he agreed with recent
article in a Los Angeles paper discourag-
ing building, and especially the erection of
large structures, he replied: "Of fcourse the
erection of buildings on vacant property on
the main streets adds very much to the ap-
pearance of the city, but it is high ii me to
check the rearing OF the flimsily built fire
traps now going up. They are not only
menace to the safety of life, but are in
every way discreditabe. The erection of
solid, fire proof structures of large size for
offices and stores which always sell readily,
or are eagerly snapped up on long and
good paying leases, is much to be desired.
Oscar Nordstrom, a large Red Wing,
Mimi, wheat grower and lumberman, is
visiting friends near Port Angeles. He said
he felt the heat very much last week, and
suffered much as polar bear would in
| equatorial Africa. He said he was almost
| helpless from muscular rheumatism on his
| arrival mere, but is now, for the first time
in many months, able to walk without help.
| He said the winter SO far was favorable to
the winter wheat in his state, and the up
ward tendency of values of good hard
wheat for milling and export to the Anti
| podes was encouraging.
! Quite number of business men from the
| Puget Sound cities are in Los Angeles at
| the various hotels and boarding houses.
The majority of them are large owners of
real estate in Seattle, Tacoma, Victoria
! anu vancouver. WHICH 10Y tlo tlT1le are I'M
remunerative. They are all confident of
| the future and say that it is only ques-
ton of awaiting the natural development
| OF the country. Though they talk, many
of them, of the necessity of rigid economy,
they seem to be averse to its practice; they
| are the best customers the local trades
men have had this season. In conversa-
ton with large owner of Puget Sound
property-inside, paying property in the
| principal cities, he said:
| So great is the confidence of foreign cap
italists in the future of Washington that al
though l was refused loan by a large
| financial institution in New York, and the
fact of the refusal was known in London, ]
was in few days pressed with offers of
Dams from some of the most conservative
lenders in the worlds financial center.
am very much pleased with Southern Cali
| fornias wonderful growth. | was in Los
| Angeles in $50, but it has almost grown
out of knowledge since then. When San
Pedro harbor is improved Los Angeles will
advance by ''leaps and bounds"