The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-19

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or hill palace, tho sanctuary OF the Dala
Lama. on their right hand. This road Il
used. IL seems, only for devotionalpurposes
One meets there decrepit old women and
men, hating and limping, slowly revolving
their prayer wheels and mumbling charms
Mr. Gambler testified that he never saw a
healthy yokel or robust Lama performing
this rite. Neither did he see the pilgrims
whom one reads Of as oiroamambulatins
the oity on their knees in series OF pros
trations, bowling their heads in the dust
and mud. All the devotees were poor and
ragged. and many blind. Apparently an
inhabitant OF Lhasa does not begin TO think
OF his next reincarnation until he has moth
ing left to hope for In this.
v.
According to Mr.. Gambler 1t would be
misleading 70 say that the Potala palace
dominates the city OF Lhasa because
comparison would be implied; picture
would be conveyed Of one building stand
ing out signally among Others. This IS
not the case. THE Potala is superbly de-
tached Its massive walls, it's terraces
and bastions stretch upward from the
plain TO the crest. as II the great abruptly
rising rock were merely a foundation stone
planted there at the divinity's nod. The
divinity dwels in the palace, while under
meath at the distance of furlong or two.
mankind il huddled abjectly in squalid,
smut begrimed houses The proportion is
that which exists between God and man. !"
We are told that II one approached within
r r -, ka oil
of the Potala and turned back without
entering the precincts, one might still
ina CINE Lhasa an enchanted city shining
with turquoise and gold. Not till one has
entered Is the illusion lost. ~One might
think devout Buddhists had excluded
strangers for the express purpose Of pre-
serving the myth OF the city's beauty and
mystery and wealth, or that the town had
been deliberately neglected and defaced
80 as TO offer no allurement TO heretics,
Just as the repulsive women ono meets
in the streets smear themselves over with
grease and clutch TO make themselves even
moro hideous than nature designed them
to be- What Lhasa is to-day it probably
was centuries ago. When Thomas Man
ming saw it, ninety years since, he testified
that everything about the city was ignoble,
dirty and repulsive. Above all this vile
ness and abjectness the Potala lowered,
as IL still towers, magnificent Its golden
roofs. shining In the sun like tongues OF
fire. are a landmark for miles, and must
inspire awe and veneration in the hearts
OF pilgrims coming from the desert parts of
Tibet, Cashmir and Mongolia to visit the
sacred city that Buddha has blest." There
=. 1 IT, hsa "a ~
ment that the secret OF romance is remote
ness, whether in time or space. Gould we
be thrown back to the days Of Agincourt,
we might be enchanted at first. but after
a week we should vote everything homely,
commonplace and dull. Falstaf, the sod
den lout, would be an impossible compan-
ion, and Prince Hal tiresome young cub
who wanted good dressing down. In
travel, too, as one approaches the goal
and the country becomes gradually ia
miliar. the halo Of legend and fable fades
Childe Roland must have been sadly
disappointed in the Dark Tower; filth
and familiarity soon dispel for us the
glamour OF Lhasa.' Romance, how
ever, still clings to the Potala. 1t is
still remote, and its sacred inmate,
whether divinity or no, has at least the di-
vine power of vanishing. In the material
West, az we like TO call It, we know how
hard It is for the humblest citizen to dis
appear in spite Of the confused hubbub Of
traffic and intricate network of communi-
cations. Yet herein Lhasa, city Of dreamy
repose. a king has escaped, been spirited
into the air, and nobody is any the wiser
Our author refers. of course. to the fact that
when the Y ounghusband expedition reached
the Forbidden City the Dalai Lama was
no longer to be found, The thirteenth
incarnation Of the Budhisat had become
invisible. A great prince, God to thou
sands of men. had been removed or had
removed himself from his palace and capt.
tai, no ore knew whittier or when. Com
plete eclipse had overtaken a ruler, who
was wont TO travel with all the trapplngs
of State, inspiring awe in his PROSTATE ser
wants. whose movements we're watched
and talked about more than any sovereign a
on earth. Yet for some time fear or loyalty
or ignorance kept every Tibetan tongue
tied. When the British soldiers first en-
tered Lhasa for aught they knew the
Dalai Lai.la might be still in his palace,
hidden in some chamber Of the rock, or,
maybe. had never lefs his customary apart
ments and was still performing his daily
rites in the Potala, confident that there,
at least, his sanctty would be invioiable by
unbelievers.
Col Younghusband had been In Lhasa
nearly three weeks before he could discover
whittier the Dalai Lama had fed. Then it
was ascertained that he had left his palace
secretly in the night and taken the north
ern road 10 Mongolia. The BuHat, Dor
jieif, met him at Nagchuka 100 miles from
Lhasa. on the verge Of tho great desert that
separates inhabited Tibet from the vast
tracts roamed over by the Mongols. On
the goth Of August, 1904, the Amban. or
Chinese Resident. dvIlged that the Dalai
Lama had left Nagchuka twelve days be-
fore and was pushing on across the waste
to the Mongolian frontier
VI.
From various sources Of information
our author was able TO get fairly clear
conception Of the Dalai Lama's face and
figure He is we are told. thick set.
about five feet nine inches In height, with