The times., 1898-12-04

W issDfl. live uftg5 tWtHty -chC va
the men left him. and he well OF wirii
the remainder. Five more men. who ar
terward betrayed him. left him at Man
sarowar Lake. and two more a few days
later The last two dese-tc = ear. led cff
NEST of the provisions. Tie Only rsmaii-
ing members of the party we're now NJ
Landor, bearer named Chandler Sing
and coole. named Nan Sing. who was
deve.orirS lsprosy. Passii:G ovsr The
mountains 9by,lway Of the Msiam Fass
the baggage being carried by means OF
yaks, the party followed the course of the
Brahmaputra until they reached the Nen
Tsambo, in which ole of The yaks WAS
lost carrying with it all the p-oyision:,
some clothes and shoes. me money, ana
other articles
They reached TOKEN in a state of star
walton. but Mir. Landor was still deter
mined to go on TOKEN consisted of one
mud house and eighty tents The inhab-
itants seemed friendly. but there pres
emily arrived a body of 400 soldiers with
rifles. with several high Lamas aud 9th
er officials. and a court was held in
tent After being maitreated in various
ways Mr.. Landor was taken to Gaishio
and further tortured. He was finally taxi
en- u journey of fifteen days to Taklakot.
where DR.. WILSON was, and released. His
release was due partly to the fact that
DIR. Wilson and some OF the Indian Off
cials had heard OF his captivity, and made
efforts in his behalf, and partly. 1t would
seem, to the superstitions of his captors.
who appear to have concluded that their
victim bore a charmed life. They might
be pardoned for this belief for the ordi-
nary man would certainly have succulnb-
ed to the treatment they gave this indom-
liable EnSlishman. They seem to have
l.. n ill.,.
a red-hot bar of iron in front of them,
but did not succeed in wholly destroying
his sight. Then a musket was placed
against his forehead and discharged up
ward. The explorer says that this gave
him "a severe shock though nothing
worse The next performance seems to
have been intended to break down the
self-control OF the victim and the way in
which il is described indicates with suf-
ficient eiearness one reason why the saw
ages thought they had gotten hold of
some sort of superhuman being. Mr..
Landor says:
The Pombo seized his long ,wo-handled sword
and came at me- He swung ii from side 10 side
all the time f0aming from mis- mouth This foam.
ing, believe, was produced artiheialy lie then
mctioned to the man who all this time held me
by the hair of my head to beHd my neck re-
sistCd with all my might to keep my lead eject
Then tie Pombo touched my neck with the sharp
blade OF his sword as il 10 mcasure the distance
for a clean, effective stroke. Then he raised the
sword and made blow az me with all his
might The sword passed disagreeaby close to
my neck, but did not touch nee. did not finch,
ard my cool. Indifferent demcauos seemed to i'm
press him %, much that he seemed relnctsnF 10
/ continue his diabolical performance; bui the
pose ii 1amas urged him on by gesticulations
and yociferous shouts. Thereupon he went through
the same performance on the other side OF my
neck. This time the blade passed so near that
ols harr rna had ka.,, hall
inch from my neck This terminated the
sword exercise, much to the disgust OF the Lamas.
who still continued TO urge the swordsnan on.
I Then they held an excited consultation .
/ have already said that my hands were mauacled
! from the bact.; 50 also were Man Sings. But at
nightfall our cartors increased our tortureS by
strs;niug manacled upward as higa a:
; they could be forced, and then secured them T.
/ an upright pole at the back. This caused very
severe pain. straining the spine in an incredible
way.
During the night, while the guards Were
| asleep. Mr.. Landor succeeded In slipping
one of his hands out of the handouts and
unfastening the feet of his servant, after
which he slipped his hand back inside
| the handouts. The servant made an in
| cautious movement, which set the dogs tC
barking and awakened the guards, and
when they found their captive partly un-
bound their astonishment may be imag-
ined. For twenty-fOur hours the prisoners
were kept in a pouring rain and benumb-
ing cold, tied up in this fashion. On the
following day an attempt was made with,
out success to poison Mr. Landor. Afte:
this there appears to have been some
doubt in the minds of the officials as tc
the nature of their captive. The story ol
his final escape from death is thus tolC
by the explorer:
In the morning indeeision again prevailed t.
a..
Lamas were still anxious TO have bsheaded
whereas the Poribo and the others had the pIev
ious night almost decided TO send us back to tn
frontier. Unfortunately it appears that tn
Pombo had seen a vision during the night II
which 4 spirit told him that If he did not xii
us. lie and his country would suffer some srea
misfortune. you can kill the Plenki'' (English
mani, the spirit is reported to have said anl
no one will puhish you il you do. The Pienki
are afraid to fight the Tibetans."
, Among the Iarnas no important step is take
, without incantations and reference TO oecul
science. so the Pombo ordered Lama to cut Of
a lock OF my hair, which he did with vei.
blunt knife, and then the Pombo rode up with
in his hand TO the Lamasery to consult the ora
Gle The lock was handed in for inspection, an
it seems that after certain incantations. I'll
oracle answered that / must be beheaded or tn
country would be in great danger.
The Pombo rode back apparently disappointed
and now ordered that one of my toenails shoul
be cut after which operation performed with tn
!, same blunt knife, the oracle was again consulte
| as TO what should be done, and unhappily CAV
the same answer.
Three such consultations are usually held b
| the high court OF the assembled Iamas, th
Tibetan on the third occasion producing for th
oracle's decision piece of dIgernsil. The Lam
/ who was about to cut this of examined M
!, hands behind and spread my fingers apart, e,
| pressing great surprise and astenishment. In
moment all the Lamas and soldiers came aroun
and examined my manacled hands-a repetitio
of ms experience at the Tucker Monastery. Th
Pombo, too, being informed, imnedatei
came and inspected my fingers, and the proceed
, ings were at once stopped.
When some weeks later | was released, I WI
, | able to learn from the Tibetans the reason I,
their amazement. Ny fingers happen to be wei
) bed rather higher than usual, and this is mo
: highly thought OF in Tibet He who possess
such fingers has. according to the Tibetans.
! charmed life, and no matter how much trie
no harm can be done to him. II
Pombo ordered that my life should be spare
/ and that should on that very day start II
return journey toward the Indian frontier. 1
took from my own money one hundred and i've
ty rupees, which he placed in my pocket 1,
: my wants during the journey, and commando
4 that though l must be kept chained up W,
, to be treated kindly, and my servants ais
, All our property had been taken avs
from us. and our clothes were in rags and swarm
ing with vermin; We were barefcoted and pra
2 tically naked. The first few days We general
j marched from before sunrise till sometimes I
l hour or two after sunset, and when we reach,
!, camp we were torn off our yaks, and our iaile
fastened iron cuffs around our ankles in additit
to those we already had round our wrists b
ing considered quite safe, were left to sle,
1 out in the open without covering of any kin
s and often lying snow deluged with raj
e Helped by my two servants who sat
+ me to keep watch and to screen me, manage
at considerable risk, to keep rough record
= = my journey back, on small piece of paper tn
had remained in my pocket when l had be,
S searched by the Tibetans. As did when on h
e rack, l used to draw my right hand out of
t cuff, and with small piece of hone had pick
i. | up as pen. and my blood as ink drnur hi