The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-18
In Company with Another Clergyman
He Entered Thibet I'm n Peaceful
Way and Was Well Received.
ON THE GRAND LAMA'S THRONE
AND AN HONORED GUEST IN THE
CAPITAL or THE COUNTRY.
What Was Learned in n study of the
Visit Lasting Eight Months.


Two years ago this glorious Christmastide
7 was sitting upon the sacred throne of the
Grand Lama in the forbidden land of
Thibet with a hundred marveling natives
bowling low before me.
Where other men had been slain at the
borderland had succeeded in penetrating
unscathed into the very heart of that ter
rible country. Where Henry Savage Lander
was turned back from the frontier, after
excruciating tortures, which will leave him
physical wreck for the balance of his days,
I and the Rev. Oliver Edwards of the Meth
odist Episcopal Church had been received
and conducted as honored guests into that
capital which, through countless ages
has never been looked upon by Caucasian
eyes.
For ten years previous we had been
turing our plans, plans elaborate and ex-
tended because of the terrible chain of
horrors which the romance of centuries has
woven across the entrance to ancient
Thibet. Yet our preparations were of little
avail for let me say right here that your
reception in a savage country depends en-
tirely upon the mode and manner in which
you approach it. Were ] to come into your
beautiful city OF Indianapolis with revolver
my boot leg. were I, in short, docking for
trouble anywhere l would be sure to find it.
On the other hand, 1 have travelled over all
the known world and much that - UNI
known, and l have always found that if you
approach the average man peaceably he will
receive you peaceably
So was it at Thibet Lander went there
looking for cold steel and he got it. We
went not out of idle curiosity or from a
spirit of adventure but because we felt
called to preach to these benighted people
the sacrifice of Christ, and the message of
peace.
OF our approach to this country I will
say but little. After a three weeks trip we
came to the silent borders of the awful
Ordis desert. 1t was the wrong season for
living man to breathe the fetid air of that
waste of death. Since the days of Abraham
camels have Travelled a small portion of it's
arid sands, but for three months even these
hardy animals cannot set foot upon it's
scorching soil. Such at least was the pepu-
lar superstition and our three natives-a
pack carrier, Buddhist priest and an in
terpreter, begged us to turn back, but we
resolved to move in one direction only
straight ahead.
At Pao Teo not a single camel was to
be had We tried to get horses, but the
dealers would not rent them. We were forced
to buy the beasts, for no native expected
to see us return.
ACROSS THE ORDIS DESERT.
There are five hundred miles of desert,
and here and there one can see the foot
prints of an animal but the sands are loose
and the constant wind shifts them to and
fro, celebrating the course. We Travelled
wholly by compass. Our food and forage
grew low and had to feed our horses
on dried beans while we ourselves suffer-
ed agonies but had black bread and no
water. But in the middle of the desert our
pack carrier was smitten with horrible
plague and died in six hours 1 lay with
the body during one night, and the next
day was stricken down, and was given up
for dead. When at last we reached the
Thibetan frontier our priest and interpreter
refused to proceed. But a few days before
the brigands who infest this wild mountain
district, had fallen upon a party
of native merchants, disemboweled
their leader. drawn and quartered
the camel driver, and ruthlessly
rifed four others, making away with
their effects. Argument, entreaty and prom
ises of additional pay were alike without
effect upon these towards, until, driven to
extremes, we were forced to threaten them
with bodily violence.
When we had made our way through half
the robber district, which is about sixty Ii,
or twenty miles, across, we were, while de-
scending rugged defile, attacked by a band
of turbaned barbarians.
On a sudden the very mountains seemed
to burst with a terrific yell. The enemy,
armed to the teeth, sprang up from every
bush and surrounded us upon all sides, pre-
senting their ferocious spears to our breasts.
Resistance was useless, and, lifting our
hats, we bowed our heads and reverently
asked the dear Lord to protect His servants.
These robbers were each armed with
spear, the blade of which was about eight
cen inches long and the handle about TWEEN
ty feet. These they poised above their
heads. Each also had Thibetan gun dashed
to the shoulder, and the keen Thibetan
sword or slash knife, dashed across the
chest But for a parti-colored breech cloth,
they were stark naked.
Rudely torn from our horses, we were
bound hand and foot and laid under fir
tree by the roadside while our captors drew
TO one side and circled about their chief and
held a loud voiced chattering council. 1t
was at this point that our Thibetan priest.
despised as he was, came to our rescue, and
beyond question saved our lives and set
us free. He explained afterwards that he
had told these savages that We came upon
business of the Sacred Lama. At any rate
upon the payment of considerable sum Of
money we were permitted to depart.
IN THE THIBETAN CAPITAL.
The remainder Of our journey was accom-
plished without unusual incident We
reached unframed. upon the same pretext,
the great monastic center, Labrony where
1900 priests reside, and obtained military
permission to rent a portion of a kind of inn
in the heart of the city. Early the next
morning, which was Christmas day, Ed
wards asked our host TO lease us room for
missionary purposes. He went out to con-
suit the authorities on the matter, and, soon
returning, gave Us permission to use the
place for one year. We knelt down and re-
turned thanks to God and this was the first
Christian prayer ever offered in Thihet.
While at our breakfast of oaten cakes
soaked in yak milk we heard a tremendous
uproar in the street without Edwards
rushed TO the door and returned pale with
fright. I'VE are losts'' he cried. The
whole street IS swarming with a bowling
mob. lie had scarcely spoken when the