The record-union., 1897-10-25
FRIGHTFUL TORTURE.
HENRY SAVAGE LANDOR'S TER
RIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Barely Escaped With His Life
From Thibet's Wierd City
of Lhasa.

From Broadway to Thibet; from
Herald Square to the Sacred Temple
of Buddha; from the Tenderloin to the
roof of the world; it's a long stretch,
isn't it?
How many Of you remember having
read a brief cable dispatch the other
day announcing that Henry Savage
Landor, the well-known explorer, had
just returned TO India after terrible
experience in Thibet2 How many OF
you read Of his torture by hot irons,
Of the horrors of the stretching log, OF
how he was chained for eight days?
How many Of you understood the full
import Of the lines, even did your eye
chance to note them in a hurried glance
through your morning paper?
'"Thibet?' you say Why that's a
little country tucked away somewhere
In the map of Asia Come to think Of
it. it's a part Of the Chinese Empire
And there your knowledge of the coun-
try probably ends, and your interest in
it as we'll, unless you are a student Of
travel, or have a leaning toward
ethnology In the latter event you
have undoubtedly heard of the mys-
terious city of Lhasa, and of how for
centuries explorers have endeavored to
get within its sacred walls.
Henry Savage Landor was one of
those intrepid spirits who in their ex-
plorations, are as eager in their search
for the unattainable as are children
who cry for the moon. When he crossed
those gigantic mountain walls, aptly
entered the plateau of the Lamas he
fully knew what he might expect. He
had before him the experience of 9th
ers, extending back to the year 1900,
when Marco Polo was the first Euro
pean to enter Thibet.
He realized the twofold difficulties of
Thibetan exploration. He knew that
the peculiar geographical position of
the country. we'll nigh inaccessible
from the north west and south, pre-
sented great dangers. He also knew
of the policy of exclusion followed by
the Chinese, a policy solely aimed at
and enforced against representatives OF
the white race
But he wanted to see for himself. He
knew that every other accessible por-
tion of the globe was the legitimate
field of the explorer, and he wanted to
go where he wasn't wanted and where
he knew he would not be tolerated.
Other explorers had set their faces to-
ward the city of Lhasa and been forced
to turn back. Only three white men,
SO far as is known, have ever entered
Its sacred portals. No eyes other than
theirs and those of the Mongolian have
ever witnessed the splendors of the
Temple of Buddha, in which lives the
great Dalai Lama, the most opulent
person in the world.
Landor's followers also knew the
dangers that beset them. His retinue
dwindled down little by little, until but
two coolies remained to share his pri-
vations without appreciating his tri-
umph. The details of his experiences,
received only since his return to Bonn
bay. are meager to a degree. But it is
natural TO infer that he had accom-
plished his purpose; that he had en-
tered the city of Lhasa, and that he
had barely escaped with his life.
We are told that he was arrested as
a spy, or for treachery. That is the
usual excuse of these strange people
in guarding the mysteries of their an
cieut city. In previous instances, how
ever the explorers have been met be-
fore they reached the city by the en-
bassies of the Grand Lama and pre-
vailed upon to turn back. This was
the experience of w. Woodville Rock
hill on both of his expeditions. Helm
rich HenSoldt claims to have resided in
the Thibetan Capital for a period OF
nine weeks, and was in daily communi-
cation with Buddhist scholars and high
dignitaries of the court of Dalai La
ma
ROMANCE OF THE LAND.
Previous to this two Russian explOr-
ers, named Menkhohdjino and Oulan-
off, made a journey of two years and
nine months through Thibet. in the
course of which they are said to have
not only penetrated to the city OF
Lhasa, but actually had an interview
with the great Dalai Lama. The few
other explorers who have dared tbs
peTils Of this wild land in the clouds
the robber Dokpas, the Chinese guards
and the Thibetan soldiery have only
SUCCEEDED in struggling through dreary
wastes of desert and storms of alter
nate snow, rain and hail, and finally
returned laden with experience only.
It is reasonable to suppose that Ian
dor gained an entrance to the city OF
Lhasa, for the dispatches set forth
that the Grand Lama was implicated
in his torture. We are told that he was
first sentenced to death. and after hav-
ing been burned with red hot irons. was
actually carried TO the place of execu-
ton Almost at the last moment the
Sfn hx-4
Lama, who commuted the sentence tc
torture by the stretching log, barbar-
Gus machine in the form of a rack How
he escaped after eight DAYS of untold
agony has not been made public, but
he finally made his way back to Bonn
bav. showing twenty-five wounds as
the result of his torture.
And all of this happened in "the little
country tucked away somewhere in the
map of Asia" a little country exceeding
700, 900 square miles. If map of Thi-
bet were cut out and placed over that
OF the United States, drawn on th5
same scale, it would cover all the space
between New York and Denver on the
one hand, and most of that between Chi
eago and New Orleans on the other. The
Inhabitants are said to be peacefully in
clined, although suspicious of strangers
1t is not until the destination of thf
traveller is known to be the CITY OF
Lhasa that they rise UP in vigorous pro-
test
LOWEST TYPE OF HUMANITY.
Thibet is the greatest and most ele-
waited tableland in the world. It's hight
above the sea averages 1900 feet, ano
1t is doubtful if there is point in the en-
tire area at an elevation of less thar