The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1905-06-17
A QUEER LAND IS THIBET.
IF THERE'S AN ODDER PLACE 1T
HAS NOT BEEN DISCOVERED.
Queen Victoria as Bloodthirsty
Goddess-Curious Effects of Great
Altitude-The Highest Battle and
The Highest Town in the World.

II there is any place in the world
| odder than the country described by
| MIR. Pcrceval Landon in The Opening
| OF TAiDet," published an. copyrighted
by Doubleday, Page & Co, explorers
ought to be set upon its trail.
The country begins at the level of
the top OF Pixies Peak and runs mucn
higher. 1t is SO high that tea boils
sores on horses lack. heal with diff
hculty; that the natives. and even
visitors, are made i'll by air pressure
when they so down to the plains.
The highest tcwn in the world IS
Phagri, whose inhabitants are also
the drtie5t OF people. 1t is too cold
to keep clean. A battle was fought in
part 1900 feet above The sea, where
It Is almost Impossible even to walk.
Lhasa is city in the clouds. The
Lama's palace is "skyscraper" 900
feet long. 1t Is seventy feet higher
than the golden cross of ST. Paurs
Cathedral; tar taller than any build
ing in New York.
Game birds are tame in Thibet even
when nominally wild The same
birds that the gun-shy in Hindoostan,
where the Englishman has introduced
sport" are not afraid of man in Thi- |
bet. whose religion forbids the taking
OF life.
Perhaps the prayer wheels are as
odd as anything. You gain merit by !
retIting "Om mani padml hum" 1t |
is easier to write it out many times,
nc!ose the writing in a rattle like a
Aatcnmans and twIrl it as you walk.
Easier still to Print it in fine type ON
he thlnnest paper and stuff with
heSe prayers a great water wheel
light feet in diameter. Every time 1t
urns all those millions OF prayers are
'rayed.
The Thibetan tells an arriving
guest to sit and stick to the carpet"
Inc going guest is asked to walk
loWly.''
The TbiDetans believe that when
ne country was young Buddha saw
and observed that the people were
II monkeys. Why, he asked, were
hey not men and good Buddhists?
Vhat chance was there in such a
ountry, they asked in reply, for men
, cultivate their DO olles, let alone
leir souls? Then said Buddha: IF
on Will promise to become men and I
uddhA5ts | Will 8ive you a good and |
ertile land to live in OF course |
ley promised, and Thibetans say L
udana made good; but visitors a
)ubt it.
Inc Ihlbetans have discovered that Il
le present Car of Russia is a rein II
arnatlCn Of Tsong-kapa, the reform
:; but this, though an odd role for the S
Ear, IS not half so odd as the rein o
lrnatlCn which they have thought S
lily arranged for the late Queen Vic n
ria. She is really Paldenlhamo, C
ark blue lady with three eyes, who I
IS upon chestnut mule, drinking n
cod from a skull and tramplng un- 1
r foot the torn and mutllated bodies d
men ana women. Her crown is v
imposed OF skulls, her eye teeth are W
UT inches long, and the bride, girth
d crupper are living snakes kept in in
sltion by the dripping skin of re- X
ntly flayed man. By this reincar- lii
tiCn idea the ThiDetans mean to
nvey the highest possible personal W
mpliment." m
f Thibetan woman marries a OF
n she marries also his younger sc
,thers, but not older ones. Under
s system, which has not its like
yWnere else in the world, population
adily declines. pu
When there is an earthquake the gi
ibetans know just how it happened. 70
ere are evil spirits; some of tn
m are gigantic brutes a mile in mi
ght, with tiny mouths which pre-. ch
It them swallowing even the small fol
crumb; naturally they suffer from We
lger, and in their agonized writh- me
c