The Washington times., 1905-10-29

upon them the burden OF the SIN OF IN
hospitality?
But though the time passed in COM
fort, and. indeed, compared to many
of our experiences, in luxury. oh! our
hearts were hungry. for in them burned
the consuming fire OF our quest. But
here we must wait; there was nothing
else to be done.
one alienation we found. and only one
In a ruined room of the monastery was
a library OF many volumes. placed there,
doubtless by the monks who were mas
sacred in times bygone. These had been
more or less cared for and re-arranged
by their successors. who gave us liberty
| to examine them as often as we pleased
What proved most interesting to us
was a dairy in many tones that Tor
generations had been kept by the khu-
bilghans or abbots of the old lamasery,
| in which every event of Importance was
recorded in great detail. Turning over
/ the pages of one of the last volumes of
this diary, written apparently about two
hundred and fifty years earlier. and
shortly before the destruction OF the
monastery. we came upon an entry of
which the following-for 1 can only quote
from memory-is the substance:
| In the summer of this year, after a
! yery great sandstorm, a brother-the
ma ne was given, but 1 forget it-found
| in the desert man of the people who
dwell beyond the Far Mountains, OF
whom rumors have reached this lamas-
cry from time to time He was living,
| but beside him were the bodies of two of
his companions who had been over
whelmed by sand and thirst He was
very fierce-loOking. He refused to say
how he came into the desert, telling US
only that he had followed the road
known to the ancients before communi-
cation between his people and the outer
/ world ceased. We gathered, however,
that his brethren with whom he fed had
committed some crime for which they
had been condemned to die, and that he
had accompanied them in their flight
He told US that there was fine country
beyond the mountains. fertile, but
plagued with droughts and earthquakes,
which latter, indeed, we often feel here.
"The people of that country were, he
} said. warlike and very numerous, and
followed agriculture
THE stranger-man told us also that
his people worshiped priestess called
Hesor the Tesea. who is said 10 rule
from generation to generation. She
lives in a great mountain, apart, and
) is feared and adored by all, but is not
the queen of the country, in the govern
ment of which she seldom interferes
To her, however, sacrifices are offered
2 and he who incurs her vengeance dies
D so that even the monarchs of thai
e land are afraid of her. Still their sub
: jects often fight, for they hate eacf
r other.
e I'VE answered that he lied when n,
: said that this woman was immortal
/ | arryrOcad n,
I meant-since nothing is immortal; alst
d we laughed at his tale Of her power
S This made the man very sagry, 81
| that he declared that our Buddha wal
o not so strong as this priestess, and thai
:, she would show 1t by being avenged
e upon us.
: "After this we gave him food and
turned him out of the lama sery. and hs
went. saying that when he returned We
should learn who spoke the truth W.
: do not know what became of him, an(
he refused to reveal to us the road t.
: his country, which lies beyond the des
ert and the Far Mountains We thinl
that perhaps he was an evil spirit sen
Z TO frighten US, in which he did not sue
q ceed."
Z Such is a precis of this strange entry
the discovery of which, vague as 1T was
a
4 Nothing more appeared about the ma
or his country. but within a little owe
a year from that date the diary of tn
abbot came to a sudden end withou
any indication that unusual events hai
occurred or were expected
We wondered whether the man from
beyond the mountains was as good a:
his word and had brought down the
vengeance OF the priestess called the
Hesea upon the community that shell
= tered him. Also we wondered-ah
= how we wondered-who and what thi.
= Hesea might be.
e On the day following this discovery
8 we prayed the Abbot Kou-en to accom-
q pany us TO the library. and. having reaC
q him the passage. asked If he knew any
Il thing OF the matter. He swayed hi
y wise old head, which always reminde,
" me of that of tortoise, and answered
n a little. Very little. and that mostl.
4, about the army of the Greek king VIII,
n is mentioned in the writing"
n We inquired what he could possibl,
II know of this matter. whereon Kou-el
y replied. calmly:
il In those days when the faith of tn
III Holy One was still young 1 dwelt a
is a humble brother in this very monas
IA and I saw the army pass. that is al
n That" he added. meditatively. was Il
N my nineteenth incarna ation-no, I an
y thinking of another army-in m
lb twenty-third-'
~ Here Leo began a great laugh. but
N managed to kick him beneath the tabl
" and he turned II into a sneeze. Thi
ii was fortunate. as 1t would have hur
sK the old mans feelings terribly. Afte
MI all. also, as Leo himself had once saiC
u surely we were not the people TO moe
Y at the theory OF relncarnation. which
{ by the way, is the FIRST article of r IL
among nearly one-quarter Of the hUma
race. and that not the most FOOLS
lu quarter.
How can that bel ask for instruC
he ton, learned one-seeing that memor
40 perishes with death?''
ed "Ah" he answered. Brother Holl